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BOOK    974.7.R54  1    v.  1    c.  1 
ROBERTS   #   NEW   YORK 


3  T153  DODSbOOfi  a 


:amewan  Commontoealtl^gf. 


EDITED   BY 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 


PLEASE  NOTE 


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Sllmcrican  Comiiiontucaltljia?  . .  j 


NEW   YORK 

THE   PLANTING  AND   THE   GROWTH   OF 
THE   EMPIRE   STATE 

BY 

ELLIS  H.  ROBERTS 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  L 


\  \\: 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

1892 


Copyright,  1887, 
Br  ELLIS   n.  ROBERTS. 


All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  IL  0.  Houghton  &  Company. 


CONTENTS   OF  VOLUME  L 


I.     BEFORE   THE    ADVENT   OF    THE  ENGLISH. 
CHAPTER  I. 

DISCOVERT   BY   THE  FRENCH  —  THEIR   INVASION   FAILS. 

PAGE 

1524-1615.  —  Early  Voyages.  —  Verazzano.  —  Early 
Maps.  —  Jacques  Cartier.  —  Samuel  de  Champlain. — 
Invades  the  Land  of  the  Iroquois.  —  First  Battle. — 
Renewed  Fighting.  —  The  French  Retire    .....      1 

CHAPTER  II. 

DISCOVERT   AND  OCCUPATION  BT   THE   DUTCH. 

1609-1622.  —  Henry  Hudson.  —  Ascends  the  River  of  the 
Mountains.  —  The  Dutch  open  Trade  with  Manhattan. 
—  Fort  Nassau.  —  Dutch  West  India  Company.  — 
Treaty  of  Tawasentha.  —  Active  Operations  in  New 
Netherland ,    .    19 

CHAPTER  III. 

DUTCH   COLONIZATION. 

1622-1637.  —  First  Colony.  —  Walloons.  —  South  River, 
Fresh  River,  Fort  Orange.  —  Indian  Conflict.  —  Rens- 
selaerwyck.  —  Peter  Minuit  Director.  —  Purchases  from 
the  Indians.  —  Fort  Amsterdam.  —  Wouter  Van  Twil- 
ler.  —  Dutch  Spirit.  —  Trade.  —  Controversies     ...    34 


VI  CONTENTS   OF   VOLUME  I. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

TRIALS   OP   THE   DUTCH   COLONY. 

1637-1647.  —William  Kieft  Director.  —  War  with  the  In- 
dians. —  Popular  Assembly  Summoned.  —  The  Twelve. 

—  Immigration.  —  Freedom  of  Religion.  —  Charges 
against  Kieft.  —  The  Eight 52 

CHAPTER  V. 

CULMINATION    OF    THE   DUTCH   SWAY. 

1647-1663. — Peter  Stuyvesaut.  —  Asserts  Power  of  the 
West  India  Company.  —  The  Finances.  —  The  Nine.  — 
Appeal  to  Holland.  —  Stuy  vesant's  Strong  Rule.  —  Re- 
ligion and  Education.  —  New  Amsterdam.  —  Trouble 
with  New  England.  — Indian  Difficulties.  —  Growth  of 
the  Colony 68 

CHAPTER   VI. 

SURRENDER   OP   THE    DUTCH. 

1663-1674.  — Long  Island  claimed  for  the  Duke  of  York. 

—  Popular  Conventions.  —  A  British  Fleet  demands 
surrender  of  New  Amsterdam.  —  Stuy  vesant's  Position. 

—  He  is  forced  to  yield.  —  Weakness  of  the  Dutch  Col- 
ony. —  Activity  and  Tolerance  of  the  Settlers.  —  Occu- 
pation by  the  British  Forces.  —  Governor  Nicolls.  — 
Meeting  of  Delegates.  —  New  York  and  Albany.  — 
Governor  Lovelace.  —  Reconquest  by  the  Dutch.  — 
Governor  Colve.  —  End  of  Dutch  Rule. —  Condition  of 
the  Colony  when  Transferred 89 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   ATTEMPT   OF   THE    SWEDES. 

1626-1656.  —  Swedish  Company  for  Trade  and  Emigra- 
tion. —  Dutch    Suggestions.  —  Peter    Minuit.  —  Fort 


CONTENTS  OF   VOLUME  I.  Vll 

Christina.  —  Distress  of  the   Swedes.  —  Fort  Casimir. 
—  Difficulties.  —  New  Jersey  cut  off  from  New  York  .  115 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    NEW    YORK. 

Land  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Natural  Boundavies.  —  Trend  of 
Mountains.  —  Flow  of  Rivers.  —  Lines  of  Discovery. 
—  Recommended  as  Seat  of  Captain  General.  —  Mili- 
tary Significance.  —  Channels  for  Commerce.  —  Con- 
figuration  120 

CHAPTER  IS. 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE. 

River  Indians.  —  The  Iroquois.  — As  Cartier  and  Cham- 
plain  found  them.  —  Trade  in  Beaver-Skins.  —  Their 
Origin.  —  The  Tribes  and  their  Location.  —  The  Con- 
federacy.—  Its  Supremacy.  —  Creed  and  Practices. — 
Oratory.  —  The  Domain  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Their  Prow- 
ess and  Advancement 128 

CHAPTER  X. 

FRENCH   MISSIONARIES   AND    FRENCH   ARMS. 

1640-1671.  —  Fort  Sorel.  —  Capture  of  Jogues,  Goupil, 
and  Couture.  —  Mission  of  the  Martyrs.  —  Death  of 
Jogues.  —  Bressani.  —  Poucet.  —  Le  Moyne.  —  The  Salt 
Springs.  —  Le  Mercier.  ^ — A  Settlement  Abandoned. — 
Forays  in  Canada  by  the  Iroquois.  —  The  French  King 
orders  a  War  of  Extermination.  —  Campaign  of  Mar- 
quis de  Tracy.  —  Expedition  of  Courcelles.  —  Renewed 
Invasion.  —  Additional  Missionaries.  —  French  Move- 
ments to  the  South  and  West.  —  Plan  to  occupy  New 
Netherland .  144 


Vm  CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  EXPLOITS  OF  FRONTENAC. 

1672-1698.  — Fort  Frontetiac.  —  Frontenac  makes  Friends 
with  the  Iroquois.  —  Quarrels  with  the  Jesuits.  —  He 
is  recalled  to  France.  —  Father  Hennepin.  —  Fort 
Niagara.  —  Governor  De  la  Barre  fails.  —  La  Famine.  — 
Garangula.  —  Denonville's  Treachery.  —  Lamberville, 
the  last  Missionary  to  the  Iroquois.  —  Failure  of  De- 
nonville.  —  Independence  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Return  of 
Frontenac.  —  Directs  three  Expeditions  against  the 
English  Colonies.  —  Burning  of  Schenectady.  —  John 
Schuyler  at  La  Prairie.  —  Peter  Schuyler  at  Chambly. 

—  Frontenac's  Advance  against  the  Mohawk  Castles.  — 
His  Expedition  against  the  Onondagas.  —  Iroquois 
Strategy.  —  Peace  of  Ryswyck 160 

II.    A   BKITISH   COLONY. 
CHAPTER  XII. 

BEGINNINGS   OF   ENGLISH   RULE. 

1674-1688.  —  Governor  Andros.  —  Instructions  to  encour- 
age Settlement  and  foster  Trade.  —  Guaranties  to  the 
Dutch.  —  Long  Island.  —  Arrests  for  Sedition.  — 
Claims  to  Connecticut.  —  Relations  with  the  Iroquois. 

—  With  Adjacent  Colonies.  —  Andros's  Report  on  the 
Province.  —  Clergymen  and  Churches.  —  New  Jersey. 

—  BrockhoUs,  Commander-in-Chief.  —  Customs  Duties 
Contested.  —  An  Assembly  asked  for.  —  Governor  Don- 
gan. —  Summons  for  an  Assembly,  —  Enacts  a  "  Char- 
ter of  Liberties."  —  Religious  Freedom.  —  Taxation 
only  hy  "  the  People  in  General  Assembly."  —  Confer- 
ence of  Governors.  —  Treaty  with  the  Iroquois.  —  King 
James  repudiates  the  Charter  of  Liberties.  —  Assembly 
Dissolved. — Condition  of  the  Colony 178 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  1.  IX 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  REBELLION    AND  AN   EXECUTION. 

1688-1691. — Consolidation  of  the  Northern  Colonies. — 
Sir  Edmund  Andros  Governor  General.  —  Questions 
about  proclaiming  William  and  Mary.  —  Andros  ar- 
rested in  Boston.  —  Authority  of  Nicholson,  Lieutenant 
Governor,  contested  in  New  York.  —  Religious  Preju- 
dices. —  Jacob  Leisler  assumes  Power  by  the  Sword.  ■ — 
Calls  a  Convention.  —  Albany  refuses  to  Submit.  — 
Leisler's  Arbitrary  Acts.  — First  Colonial  Congress. — 
A  Collision  of  Forces. —  Governor  Sloughter  arrives. 

—  Leisler  and  his  Associates  arrested.  —  Tried  by  a 
Packed  Court.  —  Leisler  and  Milborne  hanged,  —  At- 
tainder reversed  by  Act  of  Parliament    .     .     .     .     .     .198 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  REACTION    IN    ADMINISTRATION. 

1691-1708. — An  Assembly  Summoned.  —  New  York's 
Governors.  —  First  Protestant  Missionaries  among  the 
Iroquois.  —  Revenue.  —  Governor  Fletcher.  —  Settle- 
ment for  Clergymen.  —  Earl  of  Bellamout.  —  Leisler's 
Prosecutors.  —  Speculation  in  Lands.  —  Connivance 
at  Piracy.  —  Captain  Kidd.  —  Lord  Cornbury.  —  Rev. 
Francis  McKemie.  —  Declarations  of  the  Assembly 
against  Cornbury 215 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  DECADE    OF   DEVELOPMENT. 

1 708-1 720.  —  Governor  Hunter.  —  Population.  —  Negroes. 

—  Trade.  —  Manufactures  Discouraged.  —  Production 
of  Naval  Stores.  —  Immigration    from  the  Palatinate. 

—  Troubles.  —  Schoharie.  —  The  Mohawk  Valley.  — 
Movements  against  Canada.  — Prices.  —  Paper  Money. 

—  Lavish    Appropriations.  —  Hunter's    Character.  — 


X  CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 

Predicts  the  Colonies  will  "  wean  themselves."  —  Court 
of  Chancery.  —  Peter  Schuyler. — Robert  Livingston. 

—  Lewis  Morris.  —  James  DeLancey 232 

CHAPTER  XVL 

STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  EIGHTS. 

1720-1736.— Governor  Burnet.  —  Prohibition  of  Trade 
with  Canada.  —  Congress  of  the  Colonies  held  in  Al- 
bany.—A  Printer  Invited.  —  William  Bradford.— 
New  York  "  Gazette."  —  New  York  "  Journal."  —  John 
Peter  Zeuger.  —  Charge  of  Libel.  —  Court  of  Chancery. 

—  Denounced  by  the  Assembly.  —  Opposition  to  Gov- 
ernor Burnet.  —  James  Alexander.  —  William  Smith.  — 
DeLancey.  —  Governor  Montgomerie.  —  Rip  van  Dam. 

—  Governor  Cosby.  —  Contest  over  Fees.  —  Barons  of 
Exchequer.  —  Schools.  —  The  Quakers.  —  Members  ac- 
countable only  to  the  General  Assembly.  —  Powers  of 
the  Assembly.  —  Acts  tending  to  Independence.  —  Con- 
dition of  the  Province 251 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    PRESS    MADE    FREE. 

1734-1735. —Zenger's  alleged  Libel.  —  Writ  of  Habeas 
Corpus. — Exception  to  Commission  of  the  Judges. — 
Alexander  and  Smith  Disbarred.  —  Sons  of  Liberty. — 
Andrew  Hamilton  as  Counsel.  —  His  Argument.  — 
Zenger  Acquitted.  —  Popular  Rejoicing.  —  Significance 
of  the  Verdict 268 

CHAPTER  XVIIL 

COLLISIONS    AND   AFFLICTIONS. 

1736-1743.  —  Rip  van  Dam.  —  George  Clarke.  —  Clarke 
Lieutenant  Governor.  —  The  Assembly.  —  Rights  of 
Jews.  —  Slander  of  a  Member.  —  Scotch  Highlanders. 

—  French  Fort  at  Crown  Point.  —  Affairs  with  the  Iro- 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I.  XI 

quois.  —  Specific  Appropriations.  —  Incendiarism  in 
New  York.  — Alleged  Negro  Plot.  — Judicial  Madness. 

—  Executions  and  Burnings.  —  Clarke  and  Clinton      .  279 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

OPPOSITION   ORGANIZED. 

1743-1753.  —  French  Aggressions.  —  Saratoga  Destroyed. 

—  Governor  Clinton  and  the  Assembly  at  Variance.  — 
Elections  every  Seven  Years.  —  Block  Houses  Ordered. 

—  Bounties  for  Recruits  —  Preparations  against  Can- 
ada. —  Council  with  the  Iroquois.  —  Raids  and  Scalps. 

—  Chief  Justice  DeLancey  in  Opposition.  —  Cadwalla- 
der  Golden.  —  Leaders.  —  Sir  William  Johnson.  —  The 
Assembly  and  the  Revenue.  —  Sir  Danvers  Osborne 
Governor.  —  DeLancey  Lieutenant  Governor.  —  King's 
College.  —  Party  Divisions.  —  Missionaries  among  the . 
Six  Nations 298 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE   FRENCH   WAR. 

1754-1760.  — DeLancey's  Tact.  —  Attitude  of  the  Iro- 
quois. —  Congress  at  Albany.  —  Plan  of  Union.  —  Ex- 
peditions Proposed.  —  Men  and  Money.  —  Disasters.  — 
Battle  of  Lake  George.  —  The  Only  Gleam  of  Tri- 
umph. —  Sir  Charles  Hardy  Governor.*-  British 
Regulars.  —  Montcalm.  —  French  Attacks.  —  Rome.  — 
Bradstreet  supplies  Oswego.  ~  Fall  of  Oswego.  —  Fort 
William  Henry.  —  Palatine  Village  Ravaged.  —  Disas- 
ter on  Lake  George.  — 'Bradstreet  captures  Fort  Fron- 
tenac.  —  Montcalm's  Plans  shattered.  —  Oswego  Saved. 

—  Niagara  Captured.  — Lake  Champlain  Recovered.  — 
Fall  of  Quebec.  —  Canada  given  up  to  Britain.  —  Re- 
Uef  of  New  York 315 


XU  CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

PREPARATION.  —  FIRST   STEP  TOWARDS   UNION. 

1760-1765.  —  New  York  at  the  Peace  with  France. — 
Parties  and  Leaders.  —  The  Courts.  —  General  Monck- 
ton  Governor.  —  New  York  and  other  Counties.  — 
Trade  and  Culture.  —  The  Manors.  —  The  British 
Ministry  and  the  Revenue.  —  Petitions  and  Addresses 
of  the  Assembly.  —  Their  Authors.  —  New  York  leads 
for  Union  against  British  Legislation 338 


I^EW  TOEK. 


I.  BEFOEE  THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  EN&LISH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

DISCOVERY    BY    THE    FRENCH  —  THEIR    INVA- 
SION FAILS. 

1524-1615. 

Sebastian  Cabot's  map  of  his  discoveries 
on  the  Western  Continent  bung,  in  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's time,  in  the  gallery  at  Whitehall.  That 
daring  navigator  had  doubtless  plainly  marked 
the  point  on  the  mainland  which  he  had  dis- 
covered on  the  24th  of  June,  1497,  when  he 
first  penetrated  the  western  seas,  and  had  traced 
the  coast  which  in  his  two  subsequent  voyages 
he  had  sailed  along  from  the  mouth  of  Hudson's 
Bay  to  Cape  Breton,  and  not  to  the  Chesapeake, 
as  was  once  suggested.  For  while  he  reached 
the  parallel  of  38°,  it  was  doubtless  on  the  high 
seas,  as  he  makes  no  mention  of  any  of  the 
chief  features  of  the  shore  south  and  west  of 
Cape  Breton.     No  claim  is  urged  in  his  behalf 


^  NEW   YORK. 

that  he  entered  the  broad  bay  in  latitude  44° 
40'  and  longitude  74°  2',  into  which  a  great 
river  disci larges  its  flood  from  the  north,  and 
from  which  a  sound  trends  eastward,  separated 
from  the  ocean  by  a  low-lying  island.  Yet  for 
the  domain  adjacent  to  that  bay,  as  well  as  for 
other  parts  of  the  continent,  the  English  title 
begins  with  the  discovery  of  Cabot,  and  the 
possession  of  colonies  to  the  eastward  and  south- 
ward. This  title  was  the  pretext  for  the  seiz- 
ure of  the  trading  factories  from  the  Dutch 
by  the  English,  and  for  the  bestowal  on  that 
colony,  which  has  become  the  greatest  of  the 
American  commonwealths,  of  a  name  derived 
from  the  Duke  of  York,  the  most  bigoted  of 
the  Stuarts. 

The  English  were  not,  in  fact,  the  discoverers 
of  any  part  of  the  land  which  has  become  New 
York.  A  map  was  presented  to  Henry  VIIT. 
of  England  by  Giovanni  da  Verazzano,  which 
traced  the  sea-coast  of  the  Western  Continent 
from  Cape  Breton  to  Florida;  and  a  globe  is 
described  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  private  gallery 
in  Westminster  including  the  like  details  by 
the  same  navigator.  Verazzano  was  a  Florentine 
who  entered  the  service  of  Francis  I.  of  France, 
and  according  to  Hakluyt  was  thrice  on  the 
American  coast;  first  in  1508,  a  second  time  in 
1524,  and  again  two  years  later.     On  his  first 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  3 

voyage  he  sailed  from  Dieppe,  in  a  vessel  ac- 
companied by  another,  commanded  by  Thomas 
Anbert,  and  they  discovered  and  named  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  which  they  first  entered 
on  the  day  of  St.  Lawrence.  They  carried  to 
Europe  some  of  the  red  men,  as  was  the  prac- 
tice of  the  adventurers.  Verazzano  started  on  a 
second  voyage  in  1523,  but  his  fleet  was  driven 
back  by  a  severe  storm.  In  the  next  year  be 
sailed  in  La  Dauphine,  from  Dieppe,  and  reach- 
ing the  American  coast  at  about  34°,  after 
seeking  a  harbor  southward  for  four  degrees, 
surveyed  the  coast  northward  to  50°.  He  saw 
across  the  peninsula  the  Chesapeake  Bay  after 
passing  its  mouth.  At  the  close  of  April,  1524, 
be  arrived  at  a  point  which  he  called  the  Cape 
of  St.  Mary,  now  Sandy  Hook,  and  cast  anchor. 
The  natives  came  in  multitudes  to  the  shores 
to  look  upon  the  strangers  and  their  ship,  as 
Verazzano  sailed  through  the  narrows  into  the 
bay,  and  into  the  stream  which  he  styled  "  a 
very  great  river."  His  description  of  the  bay, 
which  he  styles  a  "  most  beautiful  lake,"  and 
of  the  "extent  and  attractiveness  of  the  region," 
exists  in  a  letter  to  Francis  I.,  in  a  library 
in  Florence.  He  found  the  adjacent  country 
to  be  "thickly  inhabited,"  and  thirty  boats  ap- 
peared upon  the  bay.  Verazzano  continued  his 
explorations  on  the  coast  to  the  east  and  north. 


4  NEW  YORK. 

and  he  has  left  an  interesting  narrative,  over 
which  critics  have  battled ;  but  the  Maiollo  map 
in  the  Ambrosian  library  in  Milan  marks  the 
general  line  of  his  surve}^  and  another  map, 
made  in  1524,  probably  by  Hieronimus  da  Ve- 
razzano,  a  brother,  is  preserved  in  the  Borgian 
Museum  in  Rome,  and  is  further  confirmation.^ 
Other  maps  of  the  sixteenth  century  sketch  the 
general  features  of  this  bay  and  river.  French 
writers  of  that  period  speak  of  the  region  as 
Norumberge  or  Norimbega,  and  the  "  great 
river  "  is  represented  to  a  point  where  its  chief 
branch  enters  from  the  west,  and  the  main 
stream  flows  from  the  unknown  north.  In  a 
manuscript  in  the  National  Library  in  Paris, 
by  Raulin  Secalart  and  Jean  Alphonse,  the 
writer,  about  1545,  describes  the  shallows, 
"  dangerous  on  account  of  rocks  and  swash- 
ings,"  as  Hell  Gate  has  proved  to  be,  and  says 
"  the  river  is  salt  for  more  than  forty  leagues 
up,"  as  the  Hudson  River  approximately  is.  He 
thinks  "the  river  runs  into  the  river  of  Can- 
ada, and  into  the  sea  of  Saguenay,"  according 
to  the  belief  long  received  that  the  waters  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  this  ''great  river"  com- 
mingled. He  describes  "  a  town  up  the  said 
river  fifteen  leagues,  called  Norombeque."     In 

^  See  the  discussion  over  Verazzano  in  papers  by  J.  Carson 
Brevoort,  H.  C.  Murphy,  G.  W.  Greene,  and  B.  F.  De  Costa. 


DISCOVERY  BY   THE  FRENCH,  5 

it  there  was  "  a  good  people,"  and  they  had 
''peltries  of  all  kinds,"  and  were  "dressed  in 
skins,  wearing  mantles  of  martens."  He  sailed 
up  the  river  for  many  leagues. 

On  the  map  of  Gerard  Mercator,  made  in 
1569,  a  fort  is  represented  on  the  east  side  of 
the  "  great  river."  The  claim  is  urged  that 
the  French  navigators  built  some  kind  of  works 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  ruins  on 
"  Castle  Island  "  below  Albany  are  supposed  to 
be  those  of  the  fort  marked  on  his  map  by  Mer- 
cator. Traditions  claimed  even  an  earlier  date 
for  a  part  of  these  ruins,  and  attributed  them 
to  Spanish  adventurers.  Certainly,  the  bull  of 
Pope  Alexander  VI.  gave  all  America  to  the 
Spaniards,  and  some  wanderers  from  the  fol- 
lowers of  Menendez  may  have  penetrated  to 
these  lands. 

Esteban  Gomez  was  a  Portuguese,  who  was  a 
mutineer  in  the  fleet  of  that  discoverer  who 
gave  his  name  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  In 
1525,  sailing  under  the  flag  of  Charles  V.  of 
Spain,  he  ran  his  ship,  the  San  Antonio,  into 
the  bay  already  visited  by  the  French,  and 
doubtless  ascended  the  river  for  a  considerable 
distance.  He  carried  home  with  him  a  cargo 
which  included  furs  and  red  men  for  slaves. 

Fortunately,  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  did 
not  find  on  these  shores  a  field  for  their  bloody 


6  NEW  YORK. 

contests.  France  carried  its  discoveries  farther 
northward,  and  the  Spaniards  chose  more  sunny 
climes  for  their  colonies  on  the  Western  Con- 
tinent. No  C(^rtez  here  carried  the  cross  at 
the  point  of  liis  sword.  The  civilization  was 
to  be  of  another  type.  The  Breton  fishermen 
sought  profit  on  the  Newfoundland  banks,  and 
there  trained  mariners,  who  found  their  mis- 
sion in  seeking  for  a  site  for  a  new  France, 
and  for  religious  conquests.  Inspired  by  their 
adventures,  Jacques  Cartier  was  the  earliest  to 
organize  an  expedition.  He  sailed  in  1534,  un- 
der commission  of  Francis  I.,  to  explore  the 
western  lands  about  which  hung  the  mystery 
of  romance  and  the  possibility  of  empire.  On 
the  day  of  St.  Lawrence,  as  Verazzano  had  done 
before  him,  he  entered  the  gulf  to  which  his 
piety  again  gave  the  name  of  the  Saint.  He 
won  favor  with  the  aborigines  in  the  bay  of 
Gaspe,  and  the  chief  permitted  two  of  his  sons 
to  make  a  visit  to  France,  on  a  promise  that 
they  should  be  brought  back  in  the  ensuing 
year. 

In  1535  Cartier,  as  commander  and  pilot,  con- 
ducted a  second  expedition  to  the  same  waters, 
and  the  chronicles  describe  in  his  company  some 
of  the  young  nobility  of  the  kingdom.  During 
this  voyage  he  ascended  the  stream  to  a  settle- 
ment of  red  men  at  Hochelaga,  near  the  hill 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  7 

which  he  called  Mont  Real.  He  extended  his 
discoveries  to  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River,  and  looked  wistfully  to  the  southward. 
The  information  which  the  red  men  gave  him 
of  the  country  in  that  direction  was  not  very 
definite.  They  told  him  of  a  river  running  to 
the  southwest  (the  river  of  the  Iroquois),  and, 
by  following  it,  a  moon's  journey  would  bring 
one  to  a  land  where  there  was  never  any  ice  or 
snow,  rich  in  oranges  and  almonds  and  nuts 
and  plums,  but  where  continual  wars  were 
waged.  The  people  there  were  clothed  in  skins 
like  themselves.  They  reported  that  no  gold 
or  copper  was  found  in  that  land,  which  Car- 
tier  understood  to  be  toward  Florida.  The 
country  nearest  to  the  St.  Lawrence  southward 
was  known  only  as  the  seat  of  continual  conflict. 
The  French  immigrants,  whether  Huguenots 
or  Jesuits,  whether  authorized  by  Francis  I.  or 
Henry  IV.,  were  fully  occupied  for  two  genera- 
tions in  caring  for  themselves  at  the  village 
which  grew  to  be  Montreal  and  the  fort  which 
they  built  at  Quebec.  Wrangling  and  incom- 
petency checked  growth  and  delayed  schemes 
for  advancing  the  lines  of  occupation.  These 
quarrels  and  weaknesses  belong  to  the  chroni- 
cles of  Canada.  They  served  to  prevent  the  ex- 
tension of  the  boundaries  of  New  France  south 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lakes,  at  that  crit- 


8  NEW  YORK. 

ical  era.  Then  the  continent  lay  open,  and  tlie 
French  might  have  chosen  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  sought  friendship  with  tlie  Five 
Nations  instead  of  with  the  Hurons.  If  the 
currents  of  their  migration  had  flowed  down  the 
Sorel  and  Lake  Cham  plain,  if  their  enterprise 
had  penetrated  southward  of  the  Adirondacks, 
the  French  colonies  which  grew  into  perma- 
nence along  the  Saguenay  and  the  lower  St. 
Lawrence  might  well  have  been  planted  in  the 
country  of  the  Oneidas,  the  Mohawks,  the  Onon- 
dagas,  the  Senecas,  and  the  Cayugas.  France 
might  have  held  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  and 
the  Chesapeake  as  well  as  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  even  the  fate  of  war  in  Europe  might  not 
have  checked  the  course  of  migration  and  set- 
tlement. 

The  French  were  the  first  Europeans  to  come 
into  contact  with  the  Five  Nations.  The  ad- 
vance which,  at  an  earlier  daj^  might  have 
changed  the  course  of  history  and  the  fate  of 
tlie  Western  Continent  was  providentially  de- 
layed until  1609.  The  wars  of  the  red  men 
drew  in  the  French  adventurers.  The  oppor- 
tunity was  given  to  Samuel  de  Champlain  to 
carry  his  faith  and  his  nationality  to  the  natu- 
ral seats  of  empire  on  this  continent.  He  be- 
came a  discoverer,  and  sought  to  be  a  conqueror. 
He  failed  to  be  the  architect  of  a  grand  com- 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  9 

monwealth  on  the  soil  which  he  invaded.  Yet 
Champlain  must  be  accepted  as  the  original 
European  upon  the  domain  which  is  now  New 
York,  the  first  white  actor  on  this  broad  stage. 
He  was  worthy  in  many  respects  to  be  the 
founder  of  a  State.  He  was  a  favorite  in  the 
court  of  the  French  king  known  to  song  and 
story  as  Henry  of  Navarre.  His  family  was 
trained  to  the  sea,  and  he  was  himself  a  cap- 
tain and  a, quartermaster  of  cavalry.  He  was 
a  zealous  Christian,  and  he  declared  the  sal- 
vation of  one  soul  more  important  than  the 
founding  of  a  new  empire.  Yet  he  strove  with 
all  his  energy  to  lay  the  foundations  of  New 
France.  He  was  chief  in  expeditions  which 
aimed  at  trade  with  the  natives,  but  he  never 
engaged  in  traffic  on  his  own  account.  He  was 
a  soldier  and  a  Frenchman,  so  it  was  easy  for 
him  to  listen  to  Huron  appeals  for  alliance  for 
warlike  enterprises.  He  did  not  come  as  the 
Pilgrims  came  afterward  to  Plymouth,  driven 
by  religious  persecution,  but  he  directed  him- 
self to  carrying  Christianity  to  the  native  peo- 
ple, and  introduced  to  them  the  Recollets  and 
the  Jesuits.  His  enterprise  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  adventures  soon  to  follow  in 
Virginia.  No  contrast  can  be  stronger  than 
that  between  his  advance  up  the  Sorel  and  to 
the  lake  which  he  discovered,  and  the  peaceful 


10  NEW  YORK. 

coming  of  William  Penn  to  the  commonwealth 
which  honors  him.  The  French  ca[)tain  com- 
bined religious  zeal  with  military  and  naval 
accomplishments,  with  graces  fostered  at  court, 
and  with  a  reputation  as  an  author  which  his 
works  yet  preserve.  He  was  merciful  if  severe  ; 
he  was  self-restrained  in  the  midst  of  specula- 
tion ;  he  commanded  the  confidence  of  succes- 
sive holders  of  royal  grants  and  of  successive 
ministers  of  state,  and  this  confidence  was  jus- 
tified by  his  discretion,  his  courage,  and  his 
integrity.  His  persistence  and  the  reliance 
placed  upon  his  sagacity  and  capacity  by  the 
French  authorities  saved  Canada  from  aban- 
donment in  the  period  between  1615  and  1632. 
Under  the  Count  de  Soissons  and  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  he  was  lieutenant,  and  thus  really  the 
first  governor  of  New  France.  It  was  only  as 
an  incident  in  his  Canadian  career  that  he  be- 
came the  earliest  European  figure  in  the  his- 
tory of  New  York. 

Born  in  Saintonge  in  1567,  he  sailed  in  1599 
for  Mexico  in  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  reported 
his  voyage  with  charts  of  the  western  shores. 
This  service  it  was,  doubtless,  which  led  to  his 
designation  to  explore  the  territory  in  America 
granted  to  De  Chastes,  governor  of  Dieppe, 
and  to  found  a  colony  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  commander  of  the  fleet,  which  sailed  March 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  11 

15,  1603,  was  Pontgrave,  but  the  task  of  ex- 
ploration fell  to  Champlain,  who  ran  in  a  light 
boat  up  the  river  from  the  mouth  of  the  dark 
and  deep  Saguenay,  to  the  St.  Louis  Rapids 
above  Montreal.  De  Monts,  who  succeeded  to 
the  claims  of  De  Chastes,  sought  to  divert 
Champlain  to  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  or  even 
as  far  southwest  as  Cape  Cod.  After  exami- 
nation, however,  choice  was  definitely  made  of 
Quebec  as  the  site  of  the  colony.  There,  in 
1608,  he  began  to  build  homes  and  defenses, 
and  by  putting  the  ringleader  to  death  checked 
a  plot  to  end  his  career  by  assassination.  The 
French  chieftain  at  once  made  friends  with  the 
neighboring  red  men.  He  calls  those  whose 
home  was  on  the  adjacent  hills  Montaignars, 
and  the  name  was  extended  to  several  friendly 
tribes.  In  1609  these  tribes  appealed  to  Cham- 
plain to  help  them  in  their  strife  with  their  ene- 
mies, the  Iroquois,  with  whom  they  had  waged 
mortal  war  for  a  long  time.  On  his  maps  the 
French  discoverer  assigns  to  these  warlike  peo- 
ple the  country  south  and  west  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain and  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  also  west 
as  well  as  south  of  the  Lake  of  the  Iroquois, 
now  Lake  Ontario.  His  red  allies  told  him  also 
that  east  of  the  lake  which  he  discovered  as  far 
as  mountains  seeming  to  be  covered  with  snow 
in  July  (thus  since  known  as  White  Mountains), 


12  NEW  YORK. 

the  Iroquois  raised  grain  and  fruit  in  beautiful 
valleys.  The  Montaignars  gathered  their  allies 
before  the  French  adventurer.  Among  them 
were  chiefs  who  knew  the  rivers  and  the  lands 
of  the  Iroquois.  The  red  men  told  of  the  cruel- 
ties of  the  Iroquois,  and  of  their  own  desire  for 
vengeance,  and  they  pledged  their  readiness  to 
render  liim  implicit  obedience  on  the  sole  con- 
dition* of  his  help  in  this  war.  Cham  plain  list- 
ened to  their  plea,  and  promised  to  go  with 
them,  not  to  trade,  as  he  said  enemies  had 
charged,  but  sim[)ly  to  fight  for  them.  The 
treaty  was  celebrated  by  the  firing  of  muskets 
and  arquebuses  ''  as  a  sign  of  great  friendship 
and  rejoicing." 

Champlain's  narrative  of  the  negotiation  and 
of  the  expedition  is  the  first  chapter  in  the 
chronicles  of  European  invasion  of  the  land  of 
the  Iroquois.  The  treaty  was  agreed  upon 
June  19,  1609,  on  the  Isle  of  St.  Esloy,  really 
a  point  lying  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Three 
Eivers  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Champlain  was  on  his  advance  on  the  2d  of 
July  at  the  rapids  of  the  River  of  the  Iroquois, 
connecting  the  St.  Lawrence  with  the  lake  to 
which  he  was  to  give  his  name.  This  point 
is  now  known  as  the  Chambly  Rapids.  The 
force  consisted  of  twenty-four  canoes  and  sixty 
men.     On  the  29th  of  July,  at  night,  a  war 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  13 

party  of  tlie  Iroquois  was  encountered  on  the 
west  side  of  the  lake.  The  Iroquois  hewed 
trees  and  set  up  barricades.  The  Montaignars 
lay  in  their  canoes  tied  to  poles.  After  parley, 
battle  was  postponed  until  morning.  The  night 
was  spent  in  song  and  dance  and  in  repartee 
between  the  hostile  parties.  At  daybreak  the 
Iroquois,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred,  left 
their  barricades,  led  on  by  three  chiefs  wlio 
wore  lofty  plumes.  The  forces  marched  "slowly 
with  gravity  and  assurance  "  toward  each  other. 
The  Iroquois  halted  and  stood  firm ;  the  Mon- 
taignars "  ran  about  two  hundred  paces  toward 
their  enemies."  Here  Europe  appears  on  the 
scene.  Champlain  in  quaint  words  outlines 
the  tragedy :  "  Our  savages  commenced  calling 
me  in  a  loud  voice,  and  making  way  opened 
ranks  and  placed  me  at  their  head,  marching 
about  twenty  paces  in  advance  until  I  was 
within  thirty  paces  of  the  enemy.  The  moment 
they  saw  me  they  halted,  gazing  at  me  and  I 
at  tbem.  When  I  saw  them  preparing  to  shoot 
at  us  I  raised  my  arquebus  and  aimed  directly 
at  one  of  the  three  chiefs.  Two  of  them  fell 
to  the  ground  by  this  shot,  and  one  of  their 
companions  received  a  wound  of  which  he  died 
afterwards.  I  had  put  four  balls  in  my  arque- 
bus. Our  savages  on  witnessing  a  shot  so  fa- 
vorable for  them  set  up  such  tremendous  shouts 


14  NEW  YORK. 

that  thunder  could  not  have  been  heard ;  and 
yet  there  was  no  hick  of  arrows  on  one  side  or 
the  other."  Another  Frenchman  fired  from 
ambush  and  added  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
Iroquois,  who  soon  fled.  In  pursuit  some  were 
killed,  and  ten  or  twelve  were  taken  prisoners. 
The  spoils  of  battle  were  Indian  corn  and  meal 
and  arms  thrown  away  in  flight. 

This  is  the  beginning  of  European  invasion 
in  this  domain.  Champlain  carefully  locates  it 
"in  forty-three  degrees  some  minutes  latitude." 
The  place  is  between  Lake  George  and  Crown 
Point,  in  Ticonderoga,  Essex  County.  The 
battle  prompted  the  commander  to  name  the 
water  by  which  he  had  come  Lake  Champlain. 

Rarely  does  history  possess  so  complete  a 
record  of  an  event  marking  an  era  as  it  enjoys 
of  this  achievement.  Champlain  has  told  his 
own  story  with  charming  detail.  He  has  also 
perpetuated  it  by  art.  In  the  original  edition 
of  his  voyages,  printed  at  Paris  in  1613,  is  a 
bold  engraving  of  this  struggle.  The  canoes  of 
both  parties  lie  on  the  shore  of  the  lake.  On 
the  right  are  the  pickets  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
before  them  their  warriors  armed  with  bows. 
On  the  left  are  the  Montaignars  and  their  al- 
lies with  like  weapons.  A  forest  forms  the 
background,  and  on  its  edge  are  two  French- 
men, each  armed  with   an  arquebus.     In   the 


DISCOVERY  BY  THE  FRENCH.  15 

centre,  nearly  midway  between  the  hostile 
forces,  while  arrows  are  showered  about  him, 
stands  Champlain,  with  helmet  and  plume,  with 
corselet  and  sword,  and  with  arquebus  blazing 
with  the  discharge  of  its  four  balls.  Opposite 
him,  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  their  followers,  lie 
three  plumed  Iroquois  chiefs.  So  France  be- 
gan its  career  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

This  first  act  of  French  invasion  was  a  blun- 
der. It  arrayed  the  great  confederacy  of  the 
Long  House  against  the  authorities  at  Quebec. 
It  rendered  difficult  any  negotiations,  and  finally 
cast  the  masters  of  Lake  Ontario,  the  Mohawk, 
and  the  Hudson  into  close  alliance  with  the 
English.  Champlain's  advent  was  picturesque 
and  chivalrous.  The  echo  of  his  arquebus  rang 
long  in  Indian  wars,  and  was  heard  in  the  fall 
of  French  power  in  America  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham.  He  was  to  continue  his  fighting 
with  the  Iroquois.  After  a  visit  to  France  he 
returned,  and  in  1610  had  an  encounter  with 
them  on  the  river  then  called  by  their  name, 
now  the  Richelieu  or  Sorel.  He  claims  a  vic- 
tory over  them,  and  describes  in  detail  their 
defeat. 

Champlain  kept  close  relations  with  the 
French  court  by  visits  home,  and  pressed  dis- 
coveries to  the  north  and  west.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1615,  he  discovered  Lake  Huron,  La  Mer 


16  NEW  YORK. 

Douce ^  and  on  liis  return  joined  the  Huron 
tribe  in  a  movement  against  the  Iroquois.  He 
came  from  the  west  overland,  and  crossed  Lake 
Ontario  at  its  outlet  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
advanced  into  the  land  of  the  Iroquois  for  four- 
teen leagues  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
lake.  He  concealed  the  canoes  of  his  force  on 
the  banks  near  what  is  now  Henderson,  Jeffer- 
son County.  The  hostile  march  extended  to 
an  outlet  of  Oneida  Lake,  which  Champlain 
describes.  Here  eleven  Iroquois,  four  of  them 
squaws,  were  captured  by  the  invaders.  The 
men  were  tortured  to  death  by  the  red  allies, 
but  the  women  were  spared  on  the  appeal  of 
the  commander. 

On  the  10th  of  October  Champlain  and  his 
little  army  found  the  foe  at  a  point  whicli,  not 
without  controversy,  has  been  fixed  south  of 
Oneida  Lake,  in  Fenner,  Madison  Count}^  The 
Iroquois  occupied  a  fort  which  he  pictures  as  a 
square  of  wooden  pickets,  and  a  village  ''in- 
closed with  strong  quadruple  palisades  of  large 
timber,  thirty  feet  high,  interlocked  the  one 
with  the  other,  with  an  interval  of  not  more 
than  half  a  foot  between  them.  Galleries  in 
the  form  of  parapets  were  defended  with  double 
pieces  of  timber,  proof  against  our  arquebuses, 
and  on  one  side  they  had  a  pond  with  a  nevei* 
failing  supply  of  water,  from  which  proceeded 


DISCOVERY  BY   THE  FRENCH.  17 

a  number  of  gutters,  which  they  had  laid  along 
the  intermediate  space,  throwing  the  water 
without,  and  rendering  it  effectual  inside  for 
the  purpose  of  extinguishing  fire."  Champlain 
tried  to  set  fire  to  these  works,  and  he  built  a 
tower  of  timber  from  which  "four  or  five  ar- 
quebuses might  fire  over  the  palisades  and 
galleries."  Even  from  the  French  narrative  it 
is  easy  to  see  that  this  movement  was  a  failure. 
Champlain  himself  "  received  two  wounds  from 
arrows,  one  in  the  leg  and  the  other  in  the 
knee,  which  sorely  incommoded"  him.  He 
expected  reinforcements  from  the  Hurons  or 
their  allies,  but  they  did  not  come.  Several 
skirmishes  occurred,  and  safety  was  secured 
only  by  the  arquebus.  On  the  16th  of  October, 
and  as  soon  as  he  could  bear  his  weight  on  his 
wounded  leg,  Champlain  retreated  "  out  of  this 
prison,  or,  to  speak  more  plainly,  out  of  hell." 
The  Iroquois  pursued  "  about  the  distance  of 
half  a  league,"  but  he  found  his  way  to  the 
lake  where  his  canoes  had  been  concealed,  and 
they  bore  him  away.  The  defeat  had  made  it 
certain  that  this  daring  and  able  French  ad- 
venturer was  not  to  build  walls  for  New  France 
in  the  land  of  the  Iroquois. 

In  1612  Champlain  was  appointed  lieutenant 
to  the  Count  de  Soissons,  governor  of  New 
France,  and  was  kept  in  place  by  the  Prince 


18  NEW  YORK. 

of  Conde,  who  succeeded  ;is  governor,  as  lie 
was  also  by  the  Duke  de  Montmorency  and 
the  Duke  de  Ventadour.  He  was  in  command 
in  Quebec  in  1629,  when  an  English  fleet  com- 
pelled him  to  surrender.  When  Canada  was 
restored  to  France  by  treaty  in  1632,  Cham- 
plain  again  became  governor.  He  devoted  him- 
self to  strengthening  and  extending  the  colonies 
on  and  near  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  died  Christ- 
mas, 1635,  in  the  scene  of  his  labors.  He  is  the 
European  pioneer  in  the  land  of  the  Iroquois. 
We  owe  to  his  policy  that  French  settlement 
was  directed  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
Lake  Ontario  and  to  the  west. 


CHAPTER   II. 

DISCOVEEY  AND   OCCUPATION   BY  THE  DUTCH. 

1609-1622. 

The  French  under  Champlain  penetrated  to 
Lake  Champlain  July  30,  1609.  In  September 
of  the  same  year  the  Half  Moon,  a  Dutch 
vessel,  sailed  up  the  River  of  the  Mountains, 
and  the  name  of  the  discoverer,  Hudson,  was 
given  to  the  stream.  Henry  Hudson  was  an 
Englishman,  who,  after  trying  twice  to  find 
the  passage  to  Cathay  under  the  English  flag, 
transferred  his  services  to  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company,  and  received  the  command  of  a  ves- 
sel of  eighty  tons  burden,  with  twenty  sailors, 
some  Dutch  and  some  English,  with  instruc- 
tions to  seek  China  by  the  northeast  or  north- 
west. This  company  was  the  earliest  organ- 
ization for  discovery  and  trade  in  tbat  era 
when  adventure  became  a  passion,  and  trading 
companies  were  soon  multiplied  as  its  instru- 
ment. The  States  General  of  the  Netherlands 
were  intent  on  a  full  share  in  the  commercial 
enterprise  of  the  age.     The  far  East  and  not 


20  NEW  YORK. 

the  New  World  was  the  destination  of  the 
Half  Moon,  as  of  so  many  of  its  predecessors. 
Hudson  was  driven  by  ice  from  an  attempt  to 
pierce  to  the  northeast.  He  turned  to  seek 
China  by  the  westward.  He  ran  along  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland  and  the  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  after  looking  upon  Cape  Cod  sailed 
southward  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay.  He  then  turned  northward  and 
came  to  anchor  in  Delaware  Bay.  Those  waters 
did  not  attract  him,  and  he  put  out  to  sea  and 
again  took  a  course  to  the  northward.  Septem- 
ber 3,  he  rounded  Sandy  Hook,  and  the  Half 
Moon  was  anchored  in  the  lower  bay.  John 
Smith  of  Virginia  had  told  him  of  the  great 
river  in  these  latitudes,  and  the  maps  doubtless 
accessible  to  him  marked  their  general  features. 
The  Dutch  sailors  went  ashore  and  found 
the  land  "pleasant  with  grass  and  flowers  and 
as  goodly  trees  as  ever  they  had  seen,  and  very 
sweet  smells  came  from  them."  The  Indians 
were  friendly.  They  returned  the  visit,  and 
curiosity  ran  high  on  both  sides.  The  white 
men  were  as  strange  to  the  red  men  as  the  red 
men  were  to  the  sailors  who  came  in  their 
white-winged  ship.  The  weapons  and  orna- 
ments and  attire  of  Europe  were  as  novel  a 
sight  on  the  one  hand  as  were,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  mantles  of  feathers  and  robes  of  fur 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND   OCCUPATION.        21 

Mild  copper  necklaces  of  America.  For  three 
days  the  sailors  went  and  came  in  peace.  Sep- 
tember 6,  as  a  boat  engaged  in  exploration  was 
returning  to  the  ship,  savages  in  two  canoes  at- 
tacked it^  and  John  Colman,  an  English  sailor, 
was  shot  to  death  with  an  arrow  in  his  throat. 
The  cause  of  the  attack  is  not  stated  by  Hud- 
son. If  the  Indians  had  received  no  provo- 
cation their  guilt  would  have  been  charged. 
Colman  was  buried  on  Sandy  Hook,  the  first 
European  to  die  on  these  waters.  After  his 
death  the  Indians  were  not  permitted  to  come 
on  board  the  vessel,  but  two  were  taken  cap- 
tive, and  red  coats  were  put  on  them. 

September  11,  the  Half  Moon  "went  into 
the  river,"  —  the  River  of  the  Mountains, — 
and  drifting  with  the  incoming  tide,  the  vessel 
advanced  for  three  days.  Then  with  favoring 
winds  Hudson  sailed  beside  the  palisades  and 
in  sight  of  the  mountains.  Near  the  site  of 
the  present  village  of  Catskill  natives  with 
friendly  signs  —  "loving  people"  the  old  nar- 
rative styles  them  —  brought  ears  of  Indian 
corn  and  pumpkins  and  tobacco,  and  exchanged 
them  for  the  trifles  of  the  sailors.  In  latitude 
43°  18',  near  Castleton,  September  18,  Hud- 
son went  ashore  in  a  canoe  with  an  old  chief, 
d,nd  visited  his  tribe  and  home.  The  next 
day  the  Half  Moon  anchored  near  where  now 


22  '  NEW  YORK. 

stands  the  city  of  Albany.  Here  the  Indians 
in  numbers  came  on  board  with  grapes  and 
pumpkins  and  beaver  and  otter  skins,  and  sold 
them  for  beads  and  knives  and  hatchets.  Here 
occurred  an  incident  prophetic  of  evils  for  the 
red  men.  Hudson  and  his  mate  were  suspicious 
of  the  purposes  of  the  Indians,  and  "  determined 
to  try  some  of  the  chief  men  of  the  country 
whether  they  had  any  treachery  in  them." 
They  therefore  took  them  into  the  cabin  of  the 
Half  Moon,  and  "  gave  them  so  much  wine 
and  aqua  vitce  that  they  were  all  merry."  The 
Iroquois  long  retained  a  tradition  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Europeans  with  their  chiefs  and 
of  the  effects  of  the  fire-water.  On  the  day 
succeeding  the  revel  one  of  the  chiefs  "made 
an  oration"  to  Hudson,  and  "showed  him  all 
of  the  country  round  about." 

In  the  hope  of  finding  an  open  channel  to  the 
northward,  Hudson  sent  a  boat's  crew  eight  or 
nine  leagues  further  up  the  river,  where  they 
came  to  "  but  seven  feet  of  water  and  in  con- 
stant soundings,"  and  the  report  was  brought 
back  that  the  crew  "  found  it  to  be  at  an  end 
for  shipping  to  go  in." 

For  eleven  days  Hudson  had  been  occupied  in 
the  ascent  of  the  river ;  he  now  turned  the  prow 
of  the  Half  Moon  to  the  southward,  and  sailed 
toward  the  sea.     The  Indians  came  on  board 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND    OCCUPATION.       23 

wherever  he  cast  anchor.  Near  Stony  Point 
one  of  them  was  detected  in  stealing  through 
the  cabin-window,  and  he  was  sliot  down  by 
the  mate.  This  was  the  first  Indian  blood  shed 
through  the  act  of  Europeans  on  this  river. 
The  natives  were  frightened  at  the  killing  of 
their  associate,  and  another  life  was  lost  in 
their  hasty  flight. 

When  the  Half  Moon  descended  the  river  to 
the  head  of  Manhattan  Island,  two  canoes  full 
of  fighting-men  approached  the  vessel,  and  as 
they  were  not  allowed  to  come  on  board,  they 
sent  a  flight  of  arrows  into  it.  The  party  was 
led  by  one  of  the  captives  who  had  been  clothed 
in  a  red  coat,  and  had  escaped  to  his  people. 
The  assailants  were  met  by  musket-shots,  and 
two  or  three  were  killed.  Near  the  point  where 
is  now  Fort  Washington,  the  Indians  attacked 
the  Half  Moon  as  it  passed.  Two  were  killed 
by  a  shot  from  the  large  gun,  and  the  rest  fled 
into  the  woods ;  another  canoe  bore  a  company 
for  assault,  but  the  bark  was  shattered  by  a 
ball,  and  the  red  men  retired,  after  losing  in 
all  nine  warriors.  These  first  collisions  on  the 
Hudson  occurred  October  2. 

That  night  the  Half  Moon  was  anchored  in 
the  bay  where  ''  one  side  of  the  river  was  called 
Manna-hatta,"  and  lay  there  for  a  day.  Oc- 
tober 4,   the  navigator  ran  out  of  the  "great 


t^  NEW  YORK. 

mouth  of  the  great  river  "  which  preserves  the 
memory  of  his  voyage  in  its  name,  the  Hudson. 

Fearing  his  crew,  who  began  to  ''  threaten 
him  savagely,"  Hudson  determined  to  cross  the 
Atlantic,  anxious  to  return  to  Holland,  but 
finally  seeking  port  in  Dartmouth,  England. 
He  sent  a  report  of  his  discoveries  to  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  with  a  proposal  to 
renew  the  search  for  the  northwest  passage. 
He  was  summoned  to  Amsterdam,  but  the 
English  authorities  forbade  his  departure,  and 
kept  him  at  Dartmouth  for  several  months. 
He  reentered  the  English  service  the  next 
year,  and  sailing  in  the  Discovery  penetrated 
to  that  great  bay  in  the  far  north,  where,  amid 
fields  of  ice,  he  was  abandoned  by  his  crew, 
and  left  to  die  alone.  Hudson's  Bay  was  the 
scene  of  his  death,  as  it  was  the  limit  at  once 
of  his  discoveries  and  of  his  adventures. 

Holland  merchants  engaged  in  the  fur  trade 
sent  a  second  vessel  to  the  River  of  the  Moun- 
tains, in  the  summer  of  1610.  The  crew  in- 
cluded several  sailors  who  had  returned  in  the 
Half  Moon,  and  it  is  surmised  that  the  mate  of 
that  vessel  was  the  commander  on  this  second 
voyage  to  Manhattan.  The  records  are  scant, 
but  tradition  tells  that  when  the  whites  met 
the  Indians  on  this  occasion  ''  they  were  much 
rejoiced  at  seeing  each  other." 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND   OCCUPATION.       25 

The  Dutch  were  looking  to  the  country  on 
the  Hudson  River  with  growing  interest.  They 
called  it  the  Mauritius,  after  the  Stadtholder, 
Prince  Maurice.  Hendrick  Christiaensen  of 
Cleves  contributed  to  the  new  ventures.  He 
had  been  on  a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies  before 
he  joined  Adriaen  Block  in  excursions  to  the 
American  coast,  in  1611,  when  they  visited 
Manhattan,  and  carried  back  two  sons  of  an 
Indian  chief,  who  were  named  Orson  and  Val- 
entine. These  savages  had  the  attraction  of 
novelty,  and  were  taken  as  representatives  of 
a  numerous  population  in  the  western  land. 
The  merchants  of  the  United  Provinces  were 
prompted  to  seek  trade  with  the  continent  along 
the  routes  which  their  vessels  had  traversed; 
and  a  memorial  on  the  subject  was  addressed 
to  the  chief  cities  of  Holland. 

Hans  Hongers,  Paulus  Pelgrom,  and  Lam- 
brecht  van  Tweenhuysen,  three  merchants  of 
Amsterdam,  were  the  pioneers  in  Dutch  com- 
merce with  Manhattan.  They  equipped  in 
1612  two  vessels,  the  Fortune  and  the  Tiger, 
under  the  command  respectively  of  Christiaen- 
sen and  Block,  to  seek  trade  along  the  Hud- 
son River.  The  next  year  the  Little  Fox  and 
the  Nightingale  were  also  sent  out  from  Am- 
sterdam, and  the  Fortune  sailed  from  Hoorn. 
The  Tiger  was  accidentally  burned  at  Manhat 


26  NEW  YORK. 

tan,  and  Block  built  a  vessel  to  take  its  place 
in  the  winter  of  1613-14.  At  the  same  time 
a  few  huts  were  built  near  the  southern  point 
of  the  island,  and  for  two  winters  the  Indians 
supplied  the  Dutch  with  food  and  necessaries. 
The  beginning  of  shipbuilding  was  dependent 
upon  Indian  friendship  and  supplies.  The  new 
vessel  was  called  the  Restless,  and  with  it 
Block  explored  the  waters  east  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Hudson. 

In  the  same  year,  if  not  before,  Christiaen- 
sen  built  a  strong  house  on  Castle  or  Patroon's 
Island,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson,  a  little 
below  the  site  of  Albany,  and  called  it  Fort 
Nassau.  The  dimensions  of  this  structure  de- 
serve to  be  recorded.  It  was  thirty-six  feet  by 
twenty-six  feet,  and  had  a  stockade  fifty-eight 
feet  square  with  a  moat  eighteen  feet  wide.  The 
armament  was  two  large  guns  and  eleven  swiv- 
els, and  the  garrison  numbered  ten  or  twelve. 
Christiaensen  was  the  first  commander,  and  his 
second  was  Jacob  Eelkens,  who  had  been  a 
clerk  for  a  merchant  in  Amsterdam.  Orson, 
one  of  the  Indians  who  had  been  taken  to  Hol- 
land, proved  to  be  "  an  exceedingly  malignant 
wretch  and  was  the  cause  of  Hendrick  Chris- 
tiaensen's  death."  The  cause  of  the  tragedy  is 
not  related,  but  those  were  days  of  prompt  ven- 
geance, and  Orson  "  was  repaid  with  a  bullet 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND    OCCUPATION.       27 

as  his  reward."  The  incident  does  not  seem 
to  have  had  any  effect  on  the  relations  of  the 
Dutch  with  the  red  men.  To  Fort  Nassau  the 
buyers  who  went  out  among  the  Mohawks  re- 
turned with  their  purchases,  and  the  Indians 
soon  learned  to  repair  thither  for  traffic  and 
adventure.  It  was  so  badly  damaged  by  a 
freshet  in  the  spring  of  1617,  that  it  was  suf- 
fered to  go  to  decay.  These  Mohawks  told  the 
Dutch  that  the  French  came  to  the  upper  part 
of  their  country  in  shallops  to  trade  with  them 
there.  Competition  between  nations  had  al- 
ready begun  in  American  commerce. 

The  States  General  of  Holland  granted  a 
charter,  October  11,  1614,  to  a  company  of  Am- 
sterdam merchants,  '^  exclusively  to  visit  and 
navigate  to  the  newly  discovered  lands  lying  in 
America,  between  New  France  and  Virginia, 
now  named  New  Netherland,  for  four  voyages 
commencing  on  the  1st  of  January,  1615,  or 
sooner."  Block,  who  had  returned  to  Holland, 
was  active  in  securing  this  grant,  which  organ- 
ized Dutch  trade  in  New  Netherland.  This 
company  sent  traders  into  the  interior.  Three 
who  followed  the  Delaware  southward  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  were  recovered  by  the 
payment  of  ransoms. 

This  Dutch  company  has  the  distinction  of 
framing   the   first   treaty  with   the   red   men 


28  NEW  YORK. 

After  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Nassau  the 
Dutch,  under  the  command  of  Eelkens,  in  1617 
erected  a  new  fortified  trading-liouse  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Tawasentha,  or  Norman's  Kill, 
two  miles  below  the  present  site  of  Albany. 
There  the  Mohawks  gathered  representatives 
not  only  of  the  Iroquois,  but  of  the  Mohicans, 
the  Mingoes,  the  Minnisincks,  and  the  Lenni- 
Lenapees,  in  a  council  of  peace.  An  alliance 
was  formed  between  the  Dutch  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  Iroquois  as  chief  negotiators  on  the 
other  hand,  with  the  other  tribes  as  subordi- 
nates. They  held  the  belt  of  peace  as  a  sign 
of  union  ;  they  smoked  the  cakimet,  and  they 
buried  the  tomahawk  at  a  spot  where  the 
Dutch  promised  to  build  a  church  to  cover  it 
so  that  it  could  not  be  dug  up.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  friendly  relations  which  the 
Dutch  carefully  maintained  with  the  red  men. 
The  treaty  of  Tawasentha  stood  unchanged  for 
twenty-eight  years,  and  was  renewed  in  1645, 
and  then  was  continued  during  the  entire  pe- 
riod of  Dutch  possession. 

This  treaty  was  the  practical  act,  on  the  part 
of  the  Dutch,  of  men  who  sought  trade  and 
profit,  and  favored  peace  as  a  means  to  that  end. 
They  had  no  dreams  of  conquest,  they  were 
fired  by  no  religious  zeal.  They  recognized 
the  Indians  as  persons  whose  rights  were  to  be 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND   OCCUPATION.       29 

respected,  and  whose  lives  were  not  to  be  sac- 
rificed ;  as  parties  to  a  treaty  standing  on  the 
same  plane  with  themselves,  with  ideas  of  nat- 
ural justice  and  due  sense  of  obligation  and  of 
honor.  In  the  time  of  its  framing,  in  the  par- 
ticipants, in  its  scope,  in  its  bearing  on  tlie  com- 
monwealth, the  treaty  of  Tawasentha  was  of 
the  utmost  significance.  It  arrayed  the  Iro- 
quois as  a  barrier  against  French  invasion,  it 
enabled  the  Dutch  to  get  a  solid  foothold  on  the 
Hudson  and  its  western  branches,  and  went  far 
to  determine  that  the  country  of  the  Five  Na- 
tions should  not  be  governed  from  Versailles. 

A  company  of  English  people  sought  free- 
dom of  religion  in  Holland,  in  1608,  the  year 
when  Champlain  was  busy  advancing  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributaries,  and  twelve 
months  before  the  French  discoverer  found  the 
lake,  and  Henry  Hudson  the  river,  which  are 
chief  features  in  the  topography  of  New  York. 
These  Englishmen  caught  eagerly  at  the  sto- 
ries of  a  new  land  beyond  the  sea,  and  were 
zealous  to  establish  there  the  faith  to  which 
they  were  devoted.  Dissatisfied  with  their 
refuge  in  Holland,  they  weighed  the  attrac- 
tions of  several  colonies  then  newly  founded. 
Eobinson,  their  pastor,  in  1620  applied  for  per- 
mission to  remove  to  New  Nether  land,  and 
promised  to  take  with  him  four  hundred  fami-= 


30  NEW  YORK. 

lies,  on  condition  that  the  Dutch  government 
would  protect  them  from  the  assaults  of  any 
other  power.  He  wanted  to  plant  in  New 
Netherland  "  the  true  and  pure  ChriGtian  re- 
ligion," and  "to  colonize  and  establish  a  new 
empire  there,"  under  the  States  General.  The 
Amsterdam  merchants  trading  to  the  New 
World  submitted  a  memorial  approving  the 
application  of  the  "  English  preacher  at  Ley- 
den,"  especially  as  a  means  to  secure  the  col- 
ony to  the  Dutch.  The  States  General,  April 
11,  1620,  refused  to  grant  permission  to  Robin- 
son and  his  associates  to  colonize  in  New  Neth- 
erland. The  Englishmen  therefore  concluded 
to  sail  under  arrangements,  not  wholly  catisfac- 
tory,  previously  proposed  by  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany, and  they  laid  the  foundations  of  another 
colony  the  history  of  which  runs  in  broad,  dis- 
tinct channels  of  its  own.  Some  lessons  they 
had  learned  in  twelve  years  of  banishment  in 
Leyden,  lessons  of  toleration,  of  the  union  of 
provinces,  of  the  intellectual  activity  of  a  peo- 
ple rising  out  of  conflict  to  primacy  in  many 
branches  of  civilization.  The  colony  on  the 
Hudson  lost  all  that  this  zealous  company  might 
have  brought  to  it.  That  colony  continued  for 
forty-four  years  under  Dutch  control,  separate 
from  English  influence,  and  working  out  a  de- 
velopment peculiar  and  unique  on  this  conti- 
nent. 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND   OCCUPATION.       31 

That  development  entered  upon  a  new  stage 
when,  in  1621,  the  Dutch  West  India  Company- 
was  chartered.  The  charter  of  the  New  Neth- 
erland  Company  had  expired  three  years  before, 
and  the  States  General  refused  to  grant  a  re- 
newal ;  but  a  license  was  granted  to  Hendrick 
Eelkens  and  his  associates  who  had  been  mem- 
bers, to  send  a  ship  to  Manhattan  to  trade. 
Controversy  arose  concerning  discoveries  be- 
tween him  and  Cornelis  Jacobsen  May,  who  had 
come  over  in  the  Fortune,  and  in  1620  made 
a  second  voyage,  now  in  the  Glad  Tidings, 
and  sailed  southward  of  Manhattan,  giving  his 
name  to  a  cape  to-day  fashionable  as  a  water- 
ing-place. The  controversy  helped  to  direct 
attention  to  the  American  coast,  and  both  claim- 
ants were  repulsed  while  vast  privileges  were 
conceded  to  the  West  India  Company. 

The  powers  granted  to  this  new  organization 
were  monstrous  even  in  that  age  when  Euro- 
pean states  gave  away  the  control  of  immense 
regions  in  the  New  World.  The  company  was 
clothed,  in  fact,  with  exclusive  rights  in  the  do- 
mains of  the  Dutch  between  the  tropic  of  Can- 
cer and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  on  the  coasts  of  America  between 
Newfoundland  and  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  It 
might  make  treaties  and  maintain  courts  of 
justice,    and   employ  soldiers   in    the   name  of 


82  NEW  YORK. 

the  States  General.  Oaths  of  allegiance  ran 
both  to  the  home  government  and  to  the  com- 
pany. The  company  was  to  be  ruled  by  cham- 
bers divided  into  nine  parts,  of  which  Amster- 
dam possessed  four,  and  other  Dutch  provinces 
five,  parts.  Nineteen  delegates  exercised  its 
executive  power,  and  the  States  General  were 
represented  by  one  of  them,  while  eighteen 
were  distributed  among  the  home  cities  and 
provinces.  Governors  were  to  be  appointed 
and  their  instructions  ratified  by  the  States 
General.  This  body  gave  a  million  guilders 
to  the  company,  and  pledged  to  defend  it,  and 
in  case  of  war  to  furnish  sixteen  ships  of  three 
hundred  tons  each,  and  four  yachts  of  eighty 
tons  each,  to  be  maintained  by  the  company 
and  be  commanded  by  an  admiral  appointed  by 
the  "  high  mightinesses  "  in  Holland. 

The  purpose  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany was  first  commercial,  but  its  charter  ex- 
pressly provided  that  it  was  "  to  advance  the 
peopling  of  the  fruitful  and  unsettled  parts  "  of 
the  wide  domain  intrusted  to  it,  and  to  "  do  all 
that  the  service  of  those  countries  and  the 
profit  and  increase  of  trade  shall  require." 

With  all  these  advantages  the  promoters  of 
the  company  occupied  two  years  in  perfecting 
its  organization,  and  they  did  not  secure  the 
approval  of  the  States  General  until  June  21, 


DUTCH  DISCOVERY  AND   OCCUPATION.       33 

1623.  Under  a  provision  continuing  the  license 
previously  accorded  to  traders  to  sell  goods 
shipped  to  the  colony  and  to  make  return  vo}^- 
ages,  private  merchants  kept  up  active  traffic, 
and  several  vessels  were  dispatched  to  Manhat- 
tan and  other  points  on  the  coast. 

When  active  operations  began,  the  affairs  of 
New  Netherland  were  consigned  to  the  cham- 
ber of  Amsterdam.  The  members  most  prom- 
inent were  Jonas  Wifcsen,  who  since  1614  had 
been  interested  in  trade  with  the  Mauritius, 
Hendrick  Hamel,  Samuel  Godyn,  Samuel  Blom- 
maert,  John  de  Laet,  noted  as  a  historian, 
Kiliaen  van  Rensselaer,  to  become  the  first  of 
the  patroons,  Michael  Pauw,  who  also  became 
a  patroon,  and  Peter  Evertsen  Hulft,  who 
shipped  the  first  cattle  to  the  colony. 

Before  the  formal  organization  the  company 
took  measures  to  secure  its  possessions  in  New 
Netherland,  and  in  1622  sent  out  the  yacht 
Mackerel  for  that  purpose.  The  yacht  arrived 
in  December  of  that  year  and  went  up  the  Hud- 
son River  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  its 
return  was  fortunately  timed  so  that  it  was  in 
the  bay  when  the  first  colony  sent  out  by  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company  came  into  those 
waters. 

3 


CHAPTER  III. 

DUTCH    COLONIZATION. 

1622-1637. 

The  first  colony  to  New  Netherland  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company- 
consisted  in  largest  part  of  Walloons,  persons 
of  French  blood  resident  in  the  southern  prov- 
inces of  Holland.  They  had  been  refused  the 
privilege  of  immigrating  to  Virginia  on  terras 
satisfactory  to  them,  and  were  welcomed  as 
passengers  in  the  New  Netherland,  a  ship  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty  tons,  which  sailed  in 
March,  1623,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Cornells  Jacobsen  May,  and  after  a  voyage 
of  two  months  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Hudson. 

Here  was  found  a  French  vessel,  and  its  cap- 
tain insisted  on  taking  possession  of  the  coun- 
try for  the  king  of  France.  The  Mackerel  was 
able  by  the  display  of  cannon  to  convince  the 
French  captain  that  his  claims  could  not  be 
enforced.  The  passengers  by  the  New  Nether- 
land were  distributed  over  the  territory  which 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  35 

the  Dutch  West  India  Company  sought  to  pos- 
sess. Eight  men  were  deemed  sufficient  for 
Manhattan,  several  families  were  sent  to  the 
South  River,  now  the  Delaware,  and  two  fam- 
ilies and  six  men  to  the  Fi-esh  River,  now  the 
Connecticut,  while  another  party  settled  on 
the  west  shore  of  Long  Island. 

The  vessel  proceeded  up  the  Hudson  River. 
The  larger  part  of  the  immigrants  landed  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  river,  where  Fort  Orange 
had  been  laid  out  the  preceding  year.  Adriaen 
Joris,  who  was  director  under  May,  went  with 
eighteen  families,  who  found  a  home  here.  The 
fort  was  soon  completed,  and  the  settlers  de- 
voted themselves  with  energy  to  tilling  the 
earth,  to  building  huts  of  bark,  and  to  trading 
for  fur  with  the  Indians.  These  included  the 
Mohicans  and  the  several  tribes  of  the  Iroquois. 
They  all  made  covenants  of  friendship,  and 
brought  furs  with  hearty  good  will.  This  was 
the  beginnmg  of  Albany,  the  capital  of  New 
York. 

In  1623  Fort  Nassau  was  built  on  the  South 
River,  but  was  soon  deserted.  No  marked  suc- 
cess followed  efforts  to  extend  Dutch  occupa- 
tion so  far  southward  until  1631.  In  that  year 
a  colony  built  a  brick  house  for  a  fort  and  a 
residence,  and  named  it  Swaanendael.  Gillis 
Hossett,  who  had  come  out  as  Van  Rensselaer's 


36  NEW  YORK. 

agent  on  the  Hudson,  was  in  cliarge,  and  the 
sprout  there  planted  has  grown  into  the  State 
of  Delaware. 

Of  the  colonists  generally  Joris  was  able  to 
report  at  the  end  of  their  first  year,  in  1624, 
that  they  were  ''  getting  bravely  along."  He 
took  to  Holland  with  him  a  cargo  of  furs,  which 
gave  over  twenty  -  eight  thousand  guilders  to 
the  treasury  of  the  company,  as  material  proof 
of  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 

In  Dutch  literature  New  Netherland  became 
a  prominent  feature.  The  "Historical  Relation 
of  Wassenaer,"  begun  in  1621  and  continued 
for  twelve  years,  recorded  all  the  information 
which  could  be  gathered  from  the  Western 
Continent.  John  de  Laet,  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  West  India  Company,  published  at  Ley- 
den,  in  1625,  from  "various  manuscript  jour- 
nals of  different  captains  and  pilots,"  including 
Henry  Hudson,  a  rich  and  full  volume  entitled 
"  The  New  World,  or  Description  of  the  West 
Indies."  These  works  stirred  the  hearts  and 
hopes  of  the  adventurous  to  engage  in  trade  or 
colonization  in  the  broad  new  fields. 

Peter  Eversen  Hulft,  of  Amsterdam,  deserves 
the  credit  of  shipping,  in  1625,  in  three  vessels, 
at  his  own  risk,  horses,  cattle,  swine,  and  sheep, 
with  seeds,  plows,  and  other  implements  for 
farming.    When  May  handed  over  the  direction 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  37 

of  the  colony  to  William  Yerhulst,  in  1625,  the 
population  was  two  hundred  souls. 

In  1626  Peter  Minuit  came  out  as  director 
general  of  New  Netherland,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  province  became  more  formal  and 
definite.  A  council  of  five  assisted  the  direc- 
tor, and  they  together  possessed  all  authority, 
subject  to  the  company  in  Holland.  Gage  de 
Rasieres,  the  first  "  koopman,"  served  as  secre- 
tary of  the  province,  and  Jan  Lampo,  the  first 
"schout,"  performed  the  duties  of  procurator, 
sheriff,  and  supervisor  of  customs. 

Minuit's  administration  was  distinguished  by 
the  purchase  from  the  Indians  of  the  entire 
island  of  Manhattan  for  sixty  guilders  or  about 
twenty-four  dollars.  The  transaction  to  the 
honest  Dutch  traders  was  so  simple  and  proper 
that  no  glamour  was  thrown  about  it,  and  it 
was  only  one  of  the  series  of  transactions  by 
which,  during  their  whole  occupation,  the  Dutch 
held  the  red  men  in  amity  and  peace.  Two 
"  consolers  of  the  sick  "  followed  the  new  direc- 
tor in  the  same  year,  Sebastian  Jansen  Krol 
and  Jan  Huyck  by  name,  and  they,  on  Sun- 
days, read  texts  out  of  the  Scripture  and  the 
creeds  to  such  as  would  attend.  An  upper 
room  in  a  horse-mill  served  for  the  congrega- 
tion, and  a  tower  with  Spanish  bells,  captured 
at  Porto  Rico,  marked  its  religious  character. 


38  NEW  YORK. 

Fort  Amsterdam  was  built  on  the  southern 
point  of  Manhattan  Island,  and  the  original 
battery,  which  has  become  a  historical  feature, 
was  begun. 

Fort  Orange  suffered  in  this  year  from  one 
of  the  few  wrongs  perpetrated  upon  the  red 
men  by  the  Dutch.  The  Mohicans  from  a 
village  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  crossed  the 
stream  to  attack  the  Mohawks,  and  induced 
Krieckebeeck,  the  commissary  of  the  fort,  to 
join  in  the  expedition  with  six  men.  The 
Dutch  leader  soon  paid  the  penalty  of  his 
blunder,  for  the  Mohawks  did  not  wait  to  be 
attacked,  but  fell  upon  the  invaders,  killed  the 
commissary  and  three  of  his  men,  and  put  the 
rest  of  the  force  to  flight.  Tymen  Bouwensen, 
one  of  the  killed,  the  Dutch  averred,  "  was  eaten 
by  the  savages  after  he  had  been  well  roasted." 
The  Mohawks  displayed  in  their  wigwams  an 
arm  and  a  leg  of  their  victims  as  proof  of  their 
victory.  When  inquiry  was  made  of  the  cause 
of  the  trouble  the  Mohawks  pleaded  that  they 
had  done  nothing  against  the  whites,  and  had 
acted  simply  in  self-defense.  In  consequence 
of  the  fight  the  families  at  Fort  Orange  were 
removed  to  Manhattan,  and  a  garrison  of  six- 
teen men,  without  any  women,  was  left  in 
charge,  under  Krol,  who  had  just  arrived  as 
one  of  the  ''  consolers  of  the  sick."     For  two 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  39 

years  the  dread  of  Indian  hostilities  hung  over 
Fort  Orange,  and  kept  settlers  away.  In  1628 
the  Mohawks  drove  the  Mohicans  from  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  and  conquered  a  peace. 

Krol  continued  to  hold  the  garrison,  and  sent 
such  reports  of  the  soil  and  the  climate  and  the 
advantages  of  trade,  that  Kiliaen  van  Rensse- 
laer, a  director  of  the  West  India  Company  in 
Amsterdam,  who  had  grown  rich  by  polishing 
pearls  and  diamonds,  chose  that  site  for  invest- 
ment. Van  Rensselaer  instructed  Krol  to  buy 
for  him  from  the  red  men  a  tract  of  land  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river.  This  purchase  was 
made  in  1630  under  a  charter  of  privileges  and 
exemptions  creating  patroons,  a  system  which 
had  a  marked  effect  on  the  tenure  of  land  in 
New  York.  Krol  bought  a  tract  extending 
northward  from  Barren  Island  to  Smack's  Is- 
land, and  "  stretching  two  days'  journey  into 
the  interior."  This  was  called  Rensselaerwyck, 
and  colonists  were  sent  out  in  1630,  well  pro- 
vided with  cattle  and  implements.  With  them 
came  Wolfert  Gerritsen  as  overseer  of  farms, 
and  Gillis  Hossett  as  special  agent  for  the 
proprietor.  Hossett  was  so  well  pleased  with 
the  prospect  that  he  arranged  for  the  purchase 
of  additional  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Hudson 
River,  and  both  north  and  south  of  Fort 
Orange.     The  fort  itself  remained  in  possession 


40  NEW  YORK. 

of  the  West  India  Company,  but  the  new 
patroon  became  with  these  and  later  purchases 
the  owner  of  a  great  part  of  the  land  now  con- 
stituting the  counties  of  Albany,  Rensselaer, 
and  Columbia. 

Michael  Pauw  was,  like  Van  Rensselaer,  a 
shrewd  and  adventurous  director,  who  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  charter  for  patroons.  He  bought 
from  the  red  men  the  whole  of  Staten  Island 
and  the  land  now  occupied  by  Jersey  City. 
Minuit,  as  director  general,  approved  of  the 
contract  for  Staten  Island  July  15,  1631.  The 
consideration  for  the  land  was  "  certain  parcels 
of  goods." 

The  bargains  may  have  been  sharp  on  the 
part  of  the  Dutch,  but  the  red  men  were  vol- 
untary actors,  and  the  title  to  New  Netherland 
was  not  tainted  by  blood  or  violence.  Minuit 
bought  Manhattan  for  the  company,  and  Van 
Rensselaer  and  Pauw  bought  their  tracts  as 
other  directors  secured  land  on  the  outer  limits 
of  the  province,  in  free  and  peaceful  trade. 
The  record  is  creditable  to  the  humanity  of 
the  promoters  of  the  colony,  and  it  established 
precedents,  so  that  purchase  and  not  conquest 
became  the  rule  for  the  acquisition  of  land 
from  the  red  men  in  all  parts  of  the  colony. 
The  original  patroons  were  charged  with  greed 
in  grasping  for  such  vast   tracts  of  the   most 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  41 

eligible  land.  To  assuage  tlie  jealousy  they 
divided  their  purchases  with  fellow-directors. 
•  Eastward  on  the  Fresh  River  the  West  India 
Company  claimed  possession  in  1623,  but  in 
1627  its  representatives  informed  the  Puritans 
at  Plymouth  of  the  river  "  now  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Conighticute  River,  which  they 
often  commended  to  them  for  a  fine  place  both 
for  plantation  and  trade,  and  wished  them  to 
make  use  of  it."  In  1633,  however,  a  new 
policy  was  set  on  foot.  Jacob  van  Curler  was 
sent  to  build  a  fort,  "  Good  Hope,"  and  to  buy 
from  the  red  men  a  large  tract  of  land.  He 
succeeded  in  both  tasks,  and  secured  title  from 
the  Pequods,  who  were  the  conquering  tribe. 
They,  in  the  succeeding  year,  murdered  an 
English  captain  who  came  to  trade  at  the  fort, 
and  Van  Curler  executed  some  Indians  in  re- 
turn. War  followed,  and  the  Pequods  sought 
help  from  the  English,  and  by  treaty  trans- 
ferred all  their  rights  on  the  Connecticut  to 
them.  An  English  colony  had  been  planted  at 
Windsor,  and  held  the  place  against  Dutch 
protests.  Emigration  from  several  points  in 
Massachusetts  was  organized,  and  in  1635  col- 
onists in  considerable  numbers  sailed  from  Eng- 
land to  Boston  on  their  way  to  Connecticut. 
They  grew  strong  enough  to  repulse  a  display 
of  force   by  the  Dutch.     From  this  time  the 


42  NEW  YORK. 

Fresh  River  cannot  be  claimed  as  a  part  of 
New  Netherland,  but  controversy  over  the  pos- 
session of  it  lasted  for  many  years. 

Manhattan,  with  occasional  rivalry  from  Fort 
Orange,  became  the  chief  market  and  settle- 
ment of  New  Netherland.  It  was  the  natural 
seat  of  authority  for  a  government  deriving  its 
authority  from  beyond  the  sea.  It  was  tbe 
port  through  which  exports  and  imports  must 
pass.  Already,  in  1629  and  1630,  Manhattan 
exchanged  with  Amsterdam  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  guilders'  worth  of  commodities, 
with  a  balance  in  favor  of  the  colony  of  seven- 
teen thousand  guilders.  In  1631  a  ship  called 
after  the  province  and  after  the  vessel  which 
brought  over  the  first  colony  of  the  West  India 
Company,  was  built  at  Manhattan.  It  was 
from  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  tons  bur- 
den, and  carried  thirty  guns,  and  was  one  of 
the  largest  merchant  vessels  then  afloat.  Such 
an  enterprise  proves  the  prosperity  of  the  prov- 
ince and  the  broad  and  far-reaching  hopes  of 
its  managers. 

With  prosperity  came  collisions.  The  pa- 
troons  had  interests  apart  from  the  company. 
They  sought  a  share  in  the  fur  trade,  at  least 
at  points  where  the  company  did  not  maintain 
stations.  Their  rivalry  brought  the  recall  of 
Minuit,  the  director-general  of  the  province,  in 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  43 

1631,  and  the  struggle  over  the  appointment  of 
his  successor  kept  the  place  vacant  and  admin- 
istered by  subordinates  for  two  years.  The 
company  having  the  power  insisted  on  its  mo- 
nopoly in  trade. 

In  1633  Wouter  van  Twiller  was  appointed 
director  general.  He  was  a  clerk  for  the  corn- 
pany  in  Amsterdam,  had  married  a  niece  of 
Van  Rensselaer,  and  had  attended  to  some  of 
the  colonial  interests  of  his  uncle.  He  sailed 
in  the  Soutberg,  bearing  twenty  guns  and  a 
hundred  and  four  soldiers,  and  the  vessel  cap- 
tured and  brought  into  Manhattan  a  Spanish 
caravel.  Among  his  companions  were  Everar- 
dus  Bogardus,  the  first  clergyman,  and  Adam 
Roelandsen,  the  first  schoolmaster,  who  came 
to  the  province.  Among  the  changes  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  administration  was  the  substitu- 
tion at  Fort  Orange  of  Hans  Jorissen  Houten, 
who  was  familiar  with  trade  on  the  river,  for 
Krol,  who  had  been  in  command  since  Kriecke- 
beeck  was  killed  in  his  foolish  raid  on  the 
Mohawks. 

In  the  administration  of  Van  Twiller  Wash- 
ington Irving  finds  the  beginning  of  that  his- 
torical opera  honffe  in  which  he  has  celebrated 
the  Dutch  rule  in  New  Netherland.  The  bur- 
lesque has  taken  its  place  in  our  literature,  and 
has  colored  the  estimate  of  events  in  that  pe- 


44  NEW  YORK. 

riqd.  With  much  that  is  quaint,  and  with 
figures  which  it  is  possible  to  regard  as  very- 
comical,  the  Dutch,  from  the  coming  of  Van 
T wilier  to  the  surrender  of  Stuyvesant,  did  a 
great  deal  of  practical  work  in  organizing  and 
settling  the  province,  and  in  establishing,  by 
friendly  treatment  and  fair  trade,  cordial  rela- 
tions with  the  red  men. 

The  colony  was  under  a  trading  company, 
but  it  had  its  sources  in  that  reorganized  na- 
tion whose  struggle  with  Spain  had  ended  in 
the  very  year  of  Hudson's  voyage  hither.  The 
religious  activity  of  the  Netherlands  was  ex- 
hibited in  the  synod  of  Dort,  and  in  the  leader- 
ship which  it  held  in  the  movement  for  release 
from  the  shackles  of  priestcraft  and  supersti- 
tion. During  the  period  of  the  growth  of  New 
Netherland  the  mother  country  was  one  of  the 
foremost  powers  of  the  world.  For  thirteen 
years  Van  Tromp  carried  its  victorious  flag 
over  all  seas,  and  in  1652  bore  his  defiant 
broom  at  the  masthead  through  the  English 
Channel.  France  and  England  were  glad  to 
take  the  States  General  into  alliance  as  an 
equal.  The  treachery  of  Charles  Stuart  broke 
the  relations  with  Holland,  but  only  to  pro- 
duce that  situation  which  trained  Wilham  of 
Orange  to  become  king  of  England,  and  to 
impress  his  policy  as  a  permanent  system  on 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  45 

the  diplomacy  and  the  conduct  of  his  adopted 
country.  The  intellectual  and  literary  life  of 
the  Netherlands  was  at  this  period  not  infe- 
rior to  that  of  any  part  of  Europe.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden  challenged  all  rivals.  The 
city  of  Amsterdam  was  so  far  a  leader  that  its 
style  in  art  gave  name  to  a  school.  In  mechan- 
ism, and  especially  the  skilled  branches,  which 
are  akin  to  art,  the  Dutch  were  masters.  Their 
towns  were  little  republics,  which  educated  citi- 
zens and  developed  men.  For  culture,  for  polit- 
ical and  religious  freedom,  for  varied  develop- 
ment in  literature  and  art,  the  Netherlands 
of  William  the  Silent  and  Prince  Maurice,  of 
Barneveld  and  Grotius  and  John  DeWitt,  were 
not  second  to  any  other  nation  in  that  age. 
The  commercial  enterprise  of  the  Dutch  was 
a  natural  growth  of  the  broad  and  generous 
life  of  their  republic. 

New  Netherland  received  the  adventurous 
spirits  of  such  a  country.  While  they  came 
for  traffic  primarily,  they  brought  the  clergy- 
man and  the  schoolmaster  with  them.  While 
the  directors  were  clothed  with  vast  powers, 
the  settlers  insisted  on  applying  the  principles 
of  self-government  which  they  had  learned  in 
their  native  towns.  Because  it  was  the  earliest, 
the  influence  of  the  Dutch  upon  the  common- 
wealth has  been  radical  and  enduring. 


46  NEW  YORK. 

The  language  of  the  early  settlers  has  given 
way  to  a  tongue  which  is  conquering  in  trade 
and  in  literature.  The  mother  country  has 
fallen  behind  in  the  race  of  nations,  and  has 
lost  many  of  its  historic  provinces.  But  no 
colony  can  wholly  outgrow  the  impress  given 
to  it  in  the  first  generations  of  its  existence, 
and  it  is  certain  that  New  Netherland  has  not 
done  so. 

While  the  early  settlers  tried  to  support 
themselves,  in  part  at  least,  from  the  soil,  they 
did  not  attempt  in  any  large  degree  to  raise 
agricultural  products  for  export.  The)^  made 
experiments  with  tobacco  and  gradually  ex- 
tended their  crops  of  grain,  so  that  after  a 
while  wheat  was  shipped  to  Boston,  and  in  due 
time  became  a  factor  in  trade  with  the  Old 
World.  At  the  outset  the  source  of  profit  was 
in  furs,  and  the  general  policy  was  determined 
by  this  fact.  The  devotion  of  New  England 
to  the  fisheries,  and  of  Virginia  to  raising  to- 
bacco, gave  to  the  Dutch  colony  the  control  if 
not  the  monopoly  of  the  fur  traffic.  The  cli- 
mate of  New  Netherland,  its  wealth  in  certain 
animals,  and  its  ease  of  communication  with 
Canada,  determined  the  policy  of  the  West 
India  Company.  The  zeal  to  get  furs  gave 
tone  to  the  treatment  of  the  red  men.  Peace 
with  them  was  the  sure  way  of  securing  the 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  47 

rich  peltries  which  they  hunted  for  in  the 
distant  forests  and  on  the  streams  which  they 
alone  knew.  The  cheap  trifles  of  the  Dutch 
markets  afforded  a  more  profitable  means  of 
capturing  beaver  and  otter,  and  fox,  and  deer 
and  bear  skins  than  arms  and  strife  could  offer. 
The  obvious  and  immediate  interests  of  the  col- 
onists accorded  with  their  humane  desires  and 
Christian  purposes,  and  rendered  their  relations 
with  the  Indians  during  the  Dutch  occupation 
as  a  rule  friendly  and  peaceful,  to  a  degree 
beyond  the  experience  of  their  neighbors. 

The  large  profits  of  the  fur  trade,  and  the 
restricted  field  within  which  it  was  pursued, 
led  to  suspicion  and  watchfulness  by  the  Dutch 
Company.  The  directors  from  first  to  last  found 
this  one  of  their  chief  tasks.  Van  Twiller  did 
not  shrink  from  it  whether  foreigners  or  fellow- 
countrymen  crossed  his  path. 

The  first  English  vessel  to  visit  Sandy  Hook 
came  in  1619,  under  command  of  Thomas  Der- 
mer,  but  the  only  result  was  a  report  which 
Purchas  published  in  his  "  Pilgrims."  In  1633, 
a  London  vessel,  the  William,  came  to  Man- 
hattan to  trade  upon  the  Hudson  River.  Jacob 
Eelkens,  who  had  been  commissary  at  Fort 
Orange,  directed  the  enterprise  for  English 
capitalists.  With  display  of  the  Dutch  and 
English    flags    and    a    salute    on    both    sides, 


48  NEW  YORK. 

the  William  defiantly  sailed  up  the  river. 
Eelkens  established  a  trading  tent  a  mile  be- 
low Fort  Orange,  and  for  a  fortnight  held  his 
ground  ;  but  Van  T wilier  gathered  a  fleet  of 
three  vessels,  seized  the  goods  of  the  intruder 
and  put  them  on  the  William,  turned  the  ves- 
sel about,  and  took  it  out  to  sea  under  convoy 
of  the  little  Dutch  fleet.  Eelkens  did  mischief 
by  exciting  the  red  men  against  the  Dutch, 
but  he  failed  to  establish  English  trade  on  the 
Hudson  River  at  that  time. 

Van  T wilier  had  that  virtue  in  a  ruler  which 
consists  of  faith  in  his  country.  He  devised 
large  things  for  Manhattan  :  the  repair  of  Fort 
Amsterdam,  new  windmills,  houses  of  brick 
and  frame,  a  brewery,  and  other  structures. 
A  plain  wooden  church  was  built  to  take  the 
place  of  the  loft  used  for  religious  services,  and 
a  dwelling-house  was  provided  for  the  "  dom- 
ine,"  as  the  preacher  was  called.  Elsewhere 
in  the  province  also  improvements  were  made: 
on  the  South  River,  and  at  Pavonia,  the  sta- 
tion of  Patroon  Michael  Pauw,  while  Fort 
Orange  rejoiced  in  an  "  elegant  large  house, 
with  balustrades  and  eight  small  dwellings  for 
the  people."  The  director  -  general  and  his 
friends  secured  large  tracts  of  land  from  the 
red  men.  The  rights  of  Patroon  Pauw  to  Pavo- 
nia and  Staten  Island  were  transferred  to  the 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  49 

West  India  Company.  Trade  with  New  Eng- 
land and  with  the  West  Indies  was  extended. 
The  Dutch  gave  sympathy  to  the  English  in 
their  war  of  extermination  against  the  Pe- 
quods  in  Connecticut.  The  signs  of  activity 
and  growth  were  many. 

But  Van  T wilier  had  made  enemies.  David 
Pietersen  de  Vries  of  Hoorn  tried  to  sail  with 
a  French  commission  to  trade  in  furs  on  the 
American  coast,  in  1624,  but  was  prevented 
by  the  West  India  Company.  In  1630,  he  se- 
cured an  interest  on  South  River  as  a  patroon. 
Two  years  later  he  came  out  just  in  time  to 
see  the  ruins  of  Swaanendael,  the  station  on 
that  river.  He  succeeded  in  securing  peace 
with  the  red  men  who  had  caused  the  destruc- 
tion, and  then  made  an  excursion  to  Virginia. 
Returning  to  Manhattan  in  time  to  greet  Van 
Twiller  on  his  arrival,  he  witnessed  the  con- 
duct of  the  director  general  in  the  affair  of  the 
William,  and  deemed  it  too  slow  and  weak. 
In  1633,  he  had  a  controversy  with  Van  Twil- 
ler, who  proposed  to  search  his  vessel  as  he  was 
starting  for  Holland,  for  articles  subject  to  tax 
to  the  company.  He  arranged  to  establish  a 
colony  on  Staten  Island.  He  was  in  Holland 
when  Van  Dincklagen,  who  had  been  schout- 
fiscal,  and  removed  by  Van  Twiller,  appeared 
with    charges   against    his    former   chief.     De 


60  NEW  YORK. 

Vries  intimated  that  the  director  general,  who 
seems  to  have  been  a  plodding,  self-seeking  offi- 
cial, "acted  farces"  in  the  province.  Domine 
Bogardus  had  more  than  once  quarreled  with 
Van  Twiller.  On  one  occasion  he  described 
the  director  as  a  "child  of  the  devil,"  and 
threatened  him  with  "such  a  shake  from  the 
pulpit  as  would  make  him  shudder."  Van 
Dincklagen  aimed  his  censures  at  the  domine 
as  well  as  the  director,  but  no  change  was  made 
in  the  ecclesiastical  control.  Van  Twiller  was 
removed  under  charges  in  1637.  He  retired 
with  a  large  estate.  He  appeared  later  as  one 
of  the  executors  of  the  Patroon  Van  Rensse- 
laer, and  in  1650  he  was  a  leading  opponent 
of  the  administration  of  Stuyvesant.  The  com- 
pany charged  him  with  aiming  to  "  appoint 
himself  as  the  only  commander  of  the  North 
River,"  and  with  threatening  "  to  repel  with 
force  every  one  who  with  a  commercial  view 
shall  come  there  or  to  Rensselaerwyck."  He 
was  appointed  governor  to  sustain  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  company  against  the  patroons. 
His  last  appearance  is  as  the  champion  of  the 
chief  patroon  against  the  compan}^ 

In  his  career  the  spirit  of  the  colony  at  this 
period  was  embodied.  The  company  was  vigor- 
ous in  the  assertion  of  its  claims,  and  the  direc- 
tor general  gave  exhibition  of  personal  traits 


DUTCH  COLONIZATION.  51 

in  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  powers.  Protest 
was  not  infrequent  against  the  claims  of  the 
company  and  the  domination  of  the  director. 
The  growing  power  of  the  patroons  was  mak- 
ing trouble.  There  were  scattered  farms,  but 
in  the  main  the  life  of  the  settlers  was  concen- 
trated about  the  trading-posts  and  two  or  three 
villages.  These,  however,  were  yet  weak,  and 
the  rate  of  growth  was  not  rapid. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TEIALS   OF   THE  DUTCH  COLONY. 

1637-1647. 

The  decade  in  which  William  Kief  t  held  the 
place  of  director  general  was  marked  by  an 
aggressive  policy  toward  the  red  men,  excep- 
tional in  Dutch  history,  by  an  exaggeration  of 
difficulties  incident  to  the  relations  of  the  two 
races,  and  by  consequent  dangers  and  collisions. 
These  gave  the  occasion  for  the  bold  assertion 
by  the  settlers  of  a  right  to  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment, which  was  thereafter  steadily  main- 
tained. Kieft  came  out  as  director  in  1637,  but 
the  reason  for  his  selection  is  not  easy  to  find. 
He  had  no  previous  connection  with  colonial 
affairs,  and  was  charged  with  appropriating 
money  given  to  him  to  ransom  Christian  pris- 
oners in  Turkey.  He  had  failed  in  business  as 
a  merchant  in  Eochelle,  and  for  that  offense 
his  portrait  had  been  affixed  to  the  gallows. 
He  was  as  active  as  Van  T wilier  was  slow,  and 
was  no  less  greedy  of  gain.  He  was  equally 
self-willed,  as  he  showed  at  once  on  arriving  in 


TRIALS    OF  THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  53 

the  province  by  organizing  the  council  so  as 
to  retain  the  entire  control.  He  made  haste  to 
testify  that  his  predecessor  left  affairs  in  a  very 
bad  condition.  The  company's  farms  were  not 
tenanted;  its  cattle  had  been  sold;  its  build- 
ings were  out  of  repair;  and  the  fort  was  in 
ruins  and  its  guns  dismounted.  Six  years  be- 
fore Van  Twiller  had  been  censured  for  extrav- 
agance in  building  and  repairing  the  fort,  so 
that  some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  dark 
colors  in  this  picture.  Kieft  himself,  among 
his  first  acts,  rented  one  of  the  company's 
farms  to  Van  Twiller,  and  the  rent  was  two 
hundred  and  fifty  guilders  a  year  and  one  sixth 
of  the  produce. 

The  new  director  general,  like  his  predeces- 
sor, began  with  strengthening  the  monopoly  of 
the  company  in  trade.  He  put  an  end  to  oper- 
ations in  that  line  by  employees.  He  enacted 
stringent  police  regulations,  restricting  the  sale 
of  liquor  and  imposing  an  excise  on  tobacco, 
while  passports  were  required  from  persons 
wishing  to  leave  Manhattan.  He  bought  addi- 
tional lands  for  the  company  from  the  red  men 
as  opportunity  arose,  and  sold  parcels  to  indi- 
viduals who  made  eligible  offers. 

In  the  first  year  of  his  administration  the 
States  General  investigated  the  management  of 
the  company  in  New  Netherland,  and  inquired 


54  NEW  YORK, 

into  the  policy  of  assuming  immediate  control. 
The  affair  was  complicated  by  demands  on  the 
part  of  the  patroons  for  additional  privileges. 
The  era  was  stormy  on  all  sides  for  the  prov- 
ince. One  residt  of  the  discussion  was  a  con- 
cession on  the  part  of  the  company  by  which 
any  person  could  trade  "in  the  company's 
ships  "  to  the  province  subject  to  ten  per  cent, 
duty  on  shipments  from  New  Netherland  in 
addition  to  the  charges  of  transportation.  Im- 
migrants were  to  receive  as  much  land  as  they 
could  cultivate,  paying  one  tenth  of  the  prod- 
uce as  quit-rent.  De  Yries  returned  with  a 
colony  to  Staten  Island.  In  this  year  also 
came  Joachem  Pietersen  Kuyter  of  Darmstadt 
and  Cornehs  Melyn,  who  took,  at  a  later  day, 
a  prominent  part  in  affairs.  Immigrants  from 
Virginia  and  New  England  joined  in  increas- 
ing the  population.  Fresh  impulse  was  given 
to  agriculture  and  especially  to  the  cultivation 
of  tobacco.  Captain  John  Underbill,  who  had 
won  a  name  in  the  Pequod  war,  brought  sev- 
eral families  from  Connecticut,  and  cast  his  lot 
in  New  Netherland.  Anthony  Jansen,  a  French 
Huguenot,  was  one  of  the  immigrants  in  1639, 
when  also  Thomas  Belcher  took  up  a  tract 
upon  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Brooklyn. 
The  foreigners  were  welcomed  on  equal  terms 
with  Dutchmen,  and  the  chronicles  certify  that 


TRIALS   OF   THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  55 

the  English  settlers  were  prompt  to  promise  by- 
oath  "  to  follow  the  director  or  any  one  of  the 
council  wherever  he  may  lead,"  and  to  support 
the  province  against  all  enemies. 

Kieft's  great  blunder  was  committed  in  1639/ 
and  was  due  to  mingled  greed  and  ignorance. 
He  demanded  tribute  from  the  red  men  in 
maize,  furs,  or  service,  on  the  plea  that  the  Dutch 
had  defended  them  against  their  enemies.  This 
demand  was  connected  with  an  effort  to  pre- 
vent the  sale  of  guns  or  ammunition  to  the  red 
men.  Relations  between  the  races  had  grown 
familiar.  The  red  men  made  frequent  visits  to 
the  houses  of  the  Dutch,  and  some  were  em- 
ployed as  servants.  The  Iroquois  at  first  feared 
a  gun,  and  styled  it  the  "devil,"  from  its 
Satanic  power,  but  they  soon  learned  to  use  it 
with  skill,  and  found  traders  willing  to  furnish 
weapons  at  a  round  price  in  furs.  Possession 
of  firearms  enabled  them  to  assert  domination 
over  other  tribes. 

The  director  general  tried  his  scheme  of  col- 
lecting tribute  first  on  the  Raritan  Indians, 
with  whom  trouble  had  previously  occurred. 
They  refused  to  pay,  whereupon  several  In- 
dians were  killed  and  corn  crops  were  destroyed. 
To  the  claim  that  the  tribute  was  in  return  for 
defense,  the  red  men  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 
son pleaded  that  they  had  not  only  looked  out 


66  NEW  YORK. 

for  themselves,  but  bad  for  two  winters  sup- 
plied food  and  other  necessaries  to  the  Dutch 
vvhen  long  ago  they  were  building  a  ship,  and 
had  always  paid  for  everything  they  had  re- 
ceived. The  Raritans  took  quick  revenge  for 
the  assault  upon  them  by  sweeping  out  of 
existence  by  murder  and  fire  the  colony  of  De 
Vries  on  Staten  Island.  Kieft  responded  by  a 
proclamation  offering  ten  fathoms  of  wampum 
for  the  head  of  every  Raritan,  and  twice  as 
much  for  that  of  one  of  the  murderers.  The 
bounties  enlisted  some  red  men  on  the  side  of 
the  whites.  Twenty  years  before  an  Indian 
who  had  come  with  his  nephew  to  Fort  Am- 
sterdam to  sell  furs  was  killed  without  provo- 
cation. At  this  time  of  disturbed  relations 
between  the  races  the  nephew  sought  revenge 
by  killing  an  inoffending  blacksmith  named 
Claes  Smits.  The  tribe  protected  him  for  the 
act,  and  the  director  did  not  venture  on  his 
own  authority  to  arrest  him.  The  incident  is 
notable  because  it  was  the  occasion  for  the  first 
exercise  of  popular  rights  in  the  colony.  Kieft 
was  so  much  alarmed  by  the  course  of  events 
that  he  summoned  all  the  masters  and  heads  of 
faniilies  in  and  near  Manhattan  to  meet  at 
Fort  Amsterdam.  To  this  popular  assemblage* 
he  submitted  the  question  whether  the  murder 
of  Claes  Smits  should  nut  be  punished,  and  in 


TRIALS    OF  THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  57 

case  the  tribe  would  not  surrender  the  culprit 
if  it  would  not  be  just  to  destroy  the  village  to 
which  he  belonged.  Twelve  selectmen  were 
chosen  to  consider  the  matter.  They  were  all 
Hollanders,  and  De  Vries  was  named  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Twelve.  The  advice  of  the  Twelve 
was  to  ask  for  the  surrender  of  the  murderer, 
and  in  the  mean  time  to  procure  coats  of  mail 
for  the  soldiers,  and  to  await  the  hunting  sea- 
son before  offensive  operations. 

Kieft  was  intent  on  war,  but  it  was  six 
months  before  he  could  secure  the  assent  of  the 
Twelve  for  an  expedition.  In  January,  1642, 
they  assented  to  an  expedition  under  the  per- 
sonal command  of  the  director,  and  with  ammu- 
nition and  supplies  furnished  by  the  company. 
As  the  price  of  such  concessions  the  Twelve 
demanded  from  the  director  a  reconstruction 
of  the  council,  with  a  fair  representation  of 
the  people.  They  insisted  also  that  the  mili- 
tia should  be  organized  and  armed,  and  that 
judicial  proceedings  should  be  before  the  full 
council.  They  asked  besides  for  the  removal 
of  restrictions  on  trade  for  themselves,  for  the 
exclusion  of  cows  and  sheep  brought  from  New 
England  because  they  interfered  with  those 
brought  from  Holland,  and  for  an  increase  in 
the  value  of  the  currency.  The  director  un- 
graciously gave  promise  to  admit  popular  rep- 


68  NEW  YORK. 

resentatives  to  the  council,  to  exclude  New 
England  cows  and  sheep,  and  to  amend  the 
currency.  But  the  Twelve  men,  he  declared, 
had  been  chosen  only  to  advise  relative  to  the 
murder  of  Claes  Smits,  and  as  that  duty  was 
finished  he  dismissed  them  and  forbade  any 
meetings  of  the  people  without  his  order,  as 
they  "  tend  to  dangerous  consequences."  The 
chapter  reads  much  like  the  experience  of 
other  peoples  in  other  lands,  where  arbitrary 
power  has  been  forced  by  necessity  to  appeal 
for  the  help  of  those  who  can  bear  arms  and 
f  urnisli  supplies.  The  parallel  is  complete  also 
in  that  the  director  never  carried  out  liis  pledges. 
He,  however,  began  his  operations  against  the 
red  men.  An  expedition  was  sent  out,  which, 
without  bloodshed,  secured  a  treaty  for  the  de- 
livery of  the  murderer,  but  he  was  never  given 
up,  and  Director  Kieft  learned  little  from  the 
experience. 

While  these  events  were  in  progress  the  re- 
ligious controversies  in  New  England,  with  the 
gi  eater  freedom  of  traffic  in  New  Netherland, 
turned  a  strong  tide  of  migration  to  the  latter 
province.  Several  notable  persons  removed  to 
jNIanhattan.  Francis  Doughty  came  for  "  free- 
dom of  conscience,  which  he  missed  in  New 
England."  John  Throgmorton  located  on  the 
East    River  with    thirty-five    English    families 


TRIALS   OF  THE  DUTCH   COLONY.  59 

"for  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,"  driven 
out  by  the  stern  orthodoxy  of  Hugh  Peters. 
The  noted  Anne  Hutchinson  was  foremost 
among  the  religious  immigrants  of  1642,  who, 
from  persecution  in  Massachusetts  and  Connec- 
ticut, fled  to  find  spiritual  peace  in  New  Neth- 
erland,  and  finally,  with  her  family,  to  be 
butchered  by  the  red  men.  The  influx  of  Eng- 
lish people  at  this  period  prompted  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  English  secretary  as  an  oflicer  of 
the  province. 

The  director  general  was  busy  with  many 
things  besides  the  administration  of  the  colony. 
He  set  up  a  distillery  and  buckskin  factory  on 
Staten  Island.  At  the  (charge  of  the  company 
he  built  a  stone  hotel  to  entertain  travelers 
near  the  fort.  A  new  church,  also  of  stone, 
with  oak  shingles,  was  erected,  and  it  is  nar- 
rated that  at  a  wedding  feast,  "  after  the  fourth 
or  fifth  round  of  drinking,"  subscriptions  were 
completed  for  the  purpose.  The  coming  of 
Domine  Johannes  Megapolensis  to  Rensselaer- 
wyck,  the  first  clergj^-man  for  the  interior  of  the 
province,  gave  a  prudent  counselor  in  secular 
affairs  as  well  as  a  faithful  religious  teacher. 

In  1643,  a  serious  Indian  outbreak  occurred. 
The  immediate  occasion  was  the  stealing  of  a 
beaver-skin  coat  from  a  red  man  at  Hacken- 
sack,  where  he  had  been  drinking.     He  gath- 


60  NEW  YORK. 

ered  some  of  his  tribe  and  killed  a  colonist, 
Van  Voorst,  who  was  quietly  at  work.  The 
Indians  at  once  offered  to  pay  an  atonement  of 
two  hundred  fathoms  of  wampum,  and  protested 
against  the  sale  of  liquor  to  their  young  men. 
The  director  general  would  listen  to  nothing 
but  the  giving  up  of  the  murderer.  At  the 
same  time,  the  Mohawks,  in  collecting  tribute 
from  the  tribes  on  the  lower  Hudson,  enforced 
their  power  by  killing  and  capture,  so  that  their 
tributaries  fled  before  them,  and  sought  shelter 
with  the  Dutch  in  Westchester.  Kieft  took 
advantage  of  this  circumstance  to  wreak  ven- 
geance for  the  murder  of  Smits  and  Van  Voorst. 
At  Pavonia,  the  Dutch  fell  upon  the  Indians  as 
they  slept,  and  slew  men,  women,  and  children 
to  the  number  of  eighty  persons.  At  Corlaer's 
Hook,  forty  persons  were  butchered  with  like 
circumstances  of  atrocity.  The  result  was  to 
drive  the  river  tribes  into  a  union,  and  eleven 
of  them  combined  to  carry  terror  to  the  Dutch. 
Kieft  made  a  general  levy  for  two  months,  and 
the  colonists  hastened  to  Fort  Amsterdam  and 
other  strong  places.  The  property  of  the  Dutch 
was  ravaged,  and  destruction  threatened  the 
province.  Adriaensen,  who  led  the  slaughter  at 
Corlaer's  Hook,  was  one  of  the  chief  losers.  He 
became  so  excited  as  to  try  to  assassinate  the 
director  general,  and  was  arrested  and  sent  to 


TRIALS    OF    THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  61 

Holland  for  trial.  Kieft  proclaimed  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  while  the  colonists  held  him 
responsible  and  talked  about  sending  him  for 
trial  to  Amsterdam.  The  Indians  of  Long 
Island,  however,  soon  made  advances  for  peace, 
and  a  treaty  was  framed  with  them  and  soon 
after  with  the  river  tribes.  But  the  pacifica- 
tion was  outward,  and  left  rankling  sores  on 
the  part  of  the  red  men.  The  dh'ector  gen- 
eral found  it  necessary  to  forbid  the  sale  of 
liquor  to  any  of  the  tribes. 

Peace  was  not  long  maintained.  Attacks 
were  made  by  the  red  men  on  boats  coming 
down  the  Hudson  River  from  Fort  Orange, 
their  furs  were  seized,  and  some  of  the  crews 
slain.  Once  the  red  men  were  beaten  back 
with  loss  of  their  warriors.  Colonists  were 
killed,  too,  often  by  red  men  who  approached 
as  friends.  The  situation  grew  very  serious, 
and  a  second  time  the  director  general  ap- 
pealed to  the  people  "  to  elect  five  or  six  per- 
sons from  among  themselves  "  to  consider  the 
emergency.  Eight  men  were  chosen,  and  they 
agreed  upon  preparations  for  war  against  the 
river  tribes,  while  peace  was  to  be  kept  up  with 
the  Long  Island  Indians.  Among  the  sol- 
diers enrolled  were  fifty  Englishmen,  who  came 
from  New  England,  and  who  were  placed  under 
the  command  of  John  Underbill,  who  had  kept 


62  NEW  YORK. 

his  fame  as  a  fighter.  The  red  men  were 
more  prompt  than  the  Dutch.  They  swept  with 
fire  and  slaughter  in  every  direction,  and  the 
colonists  who  could  escape  fled  to  Manhattan. 
The  destruction  was  relieved  by  the  gallant  de- 
fense made  by  Lady  Deborah  Moody,  who  had 
been  dealt  with  by  the  church  at  Salem  for 
denying  baptism  to  infants,  and  now  at  Graves- 
end,  with  forty  supporters,  repelled  the  savage 
attack,  and  held  her  position.  This  was  almos., 
the  sole  oasis  in  the  red  desert  of  carnage. 
Only  under  the  shelter  of  Fort  Amsterdam  was 
security  felt.  An  officer  relieving  guard  even 
here  was  shot  in  the  arm. 

In  his  extremity  the  director  general  sent 
delegates  to  Connecticut  to  ask  for  help ;  but 
it  was  refused.  Fortunately,  a  hundred  and 
thirty  Dutch  soldiers  arrived  in  the  nick  of 
time,  from  Cura^oa,  in  the  West  Indies,  sent 
by  Peter  Stuyvesant,  director  there.  This 
relief  may  have  decided  the  struggle  which 
threatened  to  turn  against  the  colony.  De 
Vries,  who  had  been  a  friend  of  peace  and  was 
trusted  by  the  Indians,  having  been  ruined  by 
the  war,  left  the  colony  to  return  home,  and  his 
parting  with  Kieft  was  like  that  of  a  Hebrew 
prophet :  "  The  murders  in  which  you  have 
shed  so  much  innocent  blood  will  yet  be 
avenged  on  your  own  head." 


TRIALS   OF  THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  63 

The  Eight  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  father- 
land. They  sent  an  address  to  the  West  India 
Company,  full  of  plaintive  recital  of  their  trou- 
bles. Famine  was  now  threatening  them,  for 
they  could  not  till  the  land  by  reason  of  the 
war.  They  also  submitted  to  the  States  Gen- 
eral a  statement  of  their  suffering  and  weak- 
ness, and  of  the  strength  which  the  savage  foe 
possessed  from  the  familiarity  which  he  now 
had  with  firearms.  At  the  same  time  they 
urged  the  importance  of  "  the  sea-coast,  bays, 
and  large  rivers"  to  Dutch  commerce.  The 
Eight  charged  the  director  general  with  bring- 
ing on  hostilities  with  the  Indians  without  suffi- 
cient cause,  and  with  making  misrepresenta- 
tions concerning  the  resources  and  growth  of 
the  colony.  He  had  especially  offended  by  im- 
posing taxes  upon  his  own  authority,  to  the 
great  indignation  of  the  people.  The  removal 
of  Kieft  was  demanded  with  a  new  system  and 
policy. 

Both  the  West  India  Company  and  the 
States  General  were  stirred  by  these  appeals  to 
consider  the  affairs  of  New  Netherland.  The 
company  was  bankrupt,  chiefly  through  its  op- 
erations in  Brazil.  It  had  lost  five  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  guilders,  above  all  receipts, 
in  New  Netherland.  A  report  to  the  States 
General  recommended  the  recall  of  Kieft,  the 


64  NEW  YORK. 

abandonment  of  liis  warlike  policy  toNAards 
the  Indians,  the  adjustment  of  the  boundaries 
with  the  English,  and  the  settlement  of  towns 
rather  than  scattered  farms.  It  was  proposed 
to  reconstruct  the  council,  so  that  it  should  con- 
sist of  the  director,  a  vice- director,  and  fiscal, 
and  this  council  was  to  exercise  wide  authority. 
Provision  was  made  for  delegates  from  the 
commonalty  to  meet  every  six  months  at  Man- 
hattan ''for  the  common  advancement  of  the 
welfare  of  the  inhabitants."  The  introduction 
of  negroes  from  Brazil  was  recommended,  and 
general  trade  was  allowed  with  that  country. 
No  firearms  were  to  be  sold  to  the  Indians,  and 
charges  upon  exports  and  imports  were  to  be 
relied  upon  for  revenue. 

The  Indian  war  was  prosecuted  with  the 
usual  incidents  of  such  struggles  until  1645. 
Kieft  had  learned  by  the  condemnation  in  Hol- 
land and  the  odium  in  the  colony  that  his  con- 
duct towards  the  red  men  had  been  a  blunder, 
and  he  sought  diligently  to  secure  peace.  He 
framed  treaties  with  some  of  the  minor  tribes, 
and  for  the  first  time  visited  the  Mohawks,  for 
whose  friendship  he  was  anxious.  With  them 
a  treaty  was  signed  at  Fort  Orange,  and  a  gen- 
eral peace  followed.  This  was  confirmed  by  a 
treaty  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  where  the  Mohawks 
appeared  for  the  Five  Nations  as  arbitrators. 


TRIALS  OF   THE  DUTCH  COLONY  65 

The  6th  of  September  was  appointed  as  a  day 
of  thanksgiving  "to  proclaim  the  good  tidings." 

The  chronicles  narrate  that  sixteen  hundred 
red  men  were  killed  during  the  two  years  of 
hostilities.  The  scattered  settlements  were  al- 
most obliterated.  Manhattan  could  count  only 
about  a  hundred  men  besides  the  traders. 
Rensselaer wyck  and  the  colony  on  the  South 
River  had  been  exempt  from  the  carnage. 

The  company  in  Holland  decided  to  remove 
Kieft,  and  the  decision  did  not  improve  his  re- 
lations with  the  colonists.  They  talked  freely, 
and  he  imposed  fines  and  banishment,  refusing 
appeal  to  the  home  authorities.  Domine  Bo- 
gardus,  from  his  pulpit,  said,  "  What  are  the 
great  men  of  the  country  but  vessels  of  wrath 
and  fountains  of  woe  and  trouble  ?  They  think 
of  nothing  but  to  plunder  the  property  of  others, 
to  dismiss,  to  banish,  to  transport  to  Holland." 
Kieft  retorted  by  charging  the  domine  with 
drunkenness,  and  emphasized  his  retort  by  stay- 
ing away  from  church  services,  and  having 
drums  beat  and  cannon  fired  to  interrupt  them. 

In  spite  of  all  strife  the  settlements  expanded 
as  soon  as  the  Indian  hostilities  ceased.  Brook- 
lyn set  up  a  municipal  government  in  1646. 
Mines  of  valuable  ore,  quicksilver  and  gold, 
were  reported  on  Staten  Island  and  towards 
the  South  River.     Barytes  supposed  to  be  gold 


66  NEW  YORK. 

was  found  in  the  Catskills,  and  dreams  of  for- 
tune intoxicated  many  persons.  Long  Island 
was  accounted  prosperous,  as  was  Rensselaer- 
wyck.  The  boweries  or  farms,  besides,  were 
about  fifty.  The  wiiole  province,  it  was  esti- 
mated, could  furnish  not  more  than  three  hun- 
dred fighting-men,  and  its  entire  population 
must,  therefore,  have  been  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  or  at  most  two  thousand  souls. 

Kieft  closed  his  administration  in  unpopular- 
ity, and  at  the  inauguration  of  his  successor  a 
vote  of  thanks  was  refused  to  him.  Kuyter 
and  Melyn  led  the  hostile  party,  and  petitioned 
for  an  investigation  of  his  conduct.  Their 
complaints  w^ere  dismissed,  and  they  were  sub- 
jected to  counter-charges.  They  were  formally 
indicted,  Melyn  for  rebellion,  and  Kuyter  for 
counseling  treachery  toward  the  red  men.  The 
new  director  took  strong  grounds  against  them, 
and  refused  to  allow  them  to  appeal  to  Holland 
when  they  were  sentenced.  Melyn's  sentence 
was  seven  years'  banishment  and  a  fine  of  three 
hundred  guilders,  with  forfeiture  of  all  benefits 
derived  from  the  company.  Kuyter  was  to  suf- 
fer three  years'  banishment,  and  to  pay  a  fine 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  guilders.  Kieft  sailed 
for  Holland  on  the  ship  Princess,  carrying  with 
him  a  fortune  of  four  hundred  thousand  guil 
ders.     His  two  accusers  were  also  among  the 


TRIALS  OF   THE  DUTCH  COLONY.  67 

passengers,  with  Domine  Bogardus  and  other 
persons  of  note.  The  vessel  was  wrecked  in 
Bristol  Channel.  Kieft,  in  the  danger,  ad- 
dressed his  accusers:  "Friends,  I  have  been 
unjust  toward  you ;  can  you  forgive  me  ?  "  He 
with  eighty  other  persons,  including  Domine 
Bogardus,  was  drowned.  Kuyter  and  Melyn 
were  saved,  went  to  Holland,  and  afterwards 
returned  to  Manhattan.  They  were  uneasy 
spirits  to  the  end. 

The  verdict  of  history  must  be  that  Kieft 
wrought  great  mischief  by  his  rage  against  the 
red  men  and  his  lack  of  administrative  wisdom. 
His  greed  and  his  violence  were  not  offset  by 
any  important  services  rendered  to  the  colony. 
The  redeeming  traits  in  bis  administration  are 
the  advent  of  the  Twelve  and  the  Eight  as  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  in  the  government. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY. 

1647-1663. 

The  successor  of  Kieft  as  director  general 
was  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  had  already  ren- 
dered the  colony  important  service  by  sending 
military  help,  during  the  Indian  war,  from  Cu- 
ragoa.  He  had  held  the  like  position  there, 
and  had,  by  an  attack  on  the  Portuguese  island 
of  St.  Martin,  won  praise  for  courage  and  cen- 
sure for  misjudgment.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
clergyman  in  Friesland,  had  received  consider- 
able education,  and  was  now  forty-five  years  of 
age.  Ill  health  had  taken  him  to  Holland  from 
his  post  in  the  West  Indies,  at  the  time  of  the 
controversies  between  the  Eight  men  and  Di- 
rector Kieft,  and  the  company  naturally  turned 
to  him  on  account  of  his  experience  and  char- 
acter, as  a  desirable  person  for  the  more  diffi- 
cult and  influential  station  at  Manhattan.  Van 
Dincklagen,  whose  quarrrel  with  Van  Twiller 
has  made  him   known   to   us,   had  received  a 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY,       69 

provisional  appointment  for  the  chief  place,  but 
before  he  sailed  was  named  as  vice-director 
under  Stuyvesant. 

Great  joy  was  manifested  in  Manhattan  when 
Stuyvesant  and  his  party  landed  there,  May  27, 
1647.  He  had  been  long  expected,  for  he  had 
been  appointed  nearly  two  years  before.  He 
put  on  airs  on  his  arrival,  strutted  "  like  a  pea- 
cock," and  "  as  if  he  were  the  Czar  of  Mus- 
covy," say  the  chroniclers.  He  was  a  notable 
figure.  He  had  lost  a  leg  in  the  attack  on  St. 
Martin's,  and  had  supplied  its  place  with  one, 
called  silver  by  one  writer,  and  wooden  by 
others,  and  in  fact  doubtless  of  wood  with  silver 
bands.  He  was  autocratic  in  manner,  decided 
in  speech,  and  prompt  in  action.  He  was  a  de- 
voted churchman,  was  diligent  in  his  duties, 
and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  company  and 
the  colony,  as  he  understood  them.  His  arbi- 
trary conduct  continued  the  struggle  between 
the  settlers  and  the  ruler,  so  flagrant  under  his 
predecessor.  The  new  code  of  instructions 
which  he  brought  with  him  required  him  to 
guard  against  encroachments  on  the  boundaries 
of  the  colony,  to  preserve  peace  with  the  In- 
dians, and  to  encourage  the  settlement  of  the 
colonists  in  villages.  Delegates  were  to  be  in- 
vited from  the  outlying  hamlets  to  the  council 
in   Manhattan,    and   some  mitigation   was   or- 


70  NEW  YORK. 

dered  in  the  severe  restrictions  on  trade.  The 
home  company  had  learned  that  consideration 
must  be  extended  to  the  settlers,  but  necessity 
was  more  imperative  than  the  instructions  and 
extended  further.  Fort  Amsterdam  needed  re- 
pairs, and  the  cost  of  general  administration 
must  be  met.  The  director  must  have  money, 
and  he  could  get  it  only  from  the  people.  Ac- 
cordingly, by  the  advice  of  his  council  he  or- 
dered an  election  at  which  the  settlers  in 
Manhattan,  Brooklyn,  Amersfoort,  and  Pavonia 
were  to  designate  eighteen  persons  from  whom 
the  director  and  council  should  select  nine,  "  as 
good  and  faithful  interlocutors  and  trustees  of 
the  commonalty,"  to  confer  with  the  director 
"  on  all  means  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
commonalty  and  the  country."  Three  were  to 
sit  in  council  in  rotation  to  judge  civil  cases, 
and  in  each  year  six  of  the  nine  were  to  retire, 
but  to  be  eligible  for  reelection.  This  repre- 
sentation was  a  concession  in  return  for  taxa- 
tion. 

The  director  immediately  asked  for  money 
for  schools  and  for  finishing  the  church,  and  a 
tax  was  voted  for  that  purpose.  The  Nine  re- 
fused to  provide  means  for  repairing  the  fort, 
on  the  ground  that  the  company  had  agreed  to 
maintain  the  defenses.  They  endeavored  to 
encourage  permanent  settlers  by  concentrating 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       71 

trade  in  their  hands.  As  a  means  not  only  for 
raising  money,  but  for  insuring  safety,  efforts 
were  made  to  regulate  the  sale  of  liquor,  espe- 
cially to  the  red  men,  for  "  almost  one  full  fourth 
part  of  the  town  of  New  Amsterdam  "  was  de- 
voted to  "  houses  for  the  sale  of  brandy,  tobacco, 
and  beer."  The  sale  of  arms  to  the  red  men 
also  caused  trouble,  and  yet  persons  in  official 
station,  and  even  one  of  the  Nine,  were  engaged 
in  it.  The  director  in  his  efforts  to  check  this 
traffic  made  his  first  visit  to  Fort  Orange  in 
1648,  where  Brandt  van  Slechtenhorst,  a  new 
agent  of  the  patroon,  claimed  the  right  to  sell 
arms  and  generally  to  act  on  his  own  discre- 
tion. Stuyvesant  had  to  send  troops  to  enforce 
the  authority  of  the  company,  but  finally  set 
free  from  the  patroon's  title  much  of  the  land 
on  which  the  city  of  Albany  now  stands. 

Stuyvesant  acted  vigorously,  even  aggres- 
sively, for  the  company  against  all  rivals.  His 
troubles  arose  from  his  zeal  in  this  direction, 
and  not  primarily  from  personal  quarrels.  Pa- 
troon, colonists,  or  even  the  States  General, 
met  in  him  a  sturdy  champion  of  the  company 
which  he  served.  His  first  controversy  began, 
as  was  inevitable,  over  the  finances.  The  Nine 
protested  against  the  director's  management. 
He  insisted  on  the  payment  to  the  company  of 
what  was  due  to  it,  while  he  was  lax  in  set- 


72  NEW  YORK. 

tling  such  claims  as  it  owed.  They  complained 
also  of  the  heavy  charges  levied  upon  trade. 
They  proposed  to  send  a  delegation  to  Holland, 
and  as  the  grievances  ran  on,  the  proposal  was 
renewed.  Stuyvesant  was  unwilling  to  have 
any  appeal  made  to  the  home  authorities  except 
through  him.  In  1649  he  suggested  to  the 
Nine  to  inquire  '•  what  approbation  the  com- 
monalty would  give  to  the  business,  and  how 
the  expenses  should  be  defrayed."  He  would 
not  permit  the  people  to  assemble,  and  the  Nine 
sought  counsel  from  house  to  house.  The  di- 
rector was  displeased  at  this  course,  and  sum- 
moned delegates  from  the  militia  and  the 
burghers,  to  consider  the  subject  of  a  delega- 
tion. The  Nine,  finding  events  to  be  grow- 
ing exciting,  ordered  a  journal  to  be  kept  by 
Adriaen  van  der  Donck,  one  of  their  number. 
The  director  seized  the  papers,  arrested  the 
writer,  and  put  him  in  prison  on  the  charge  of 
libeling  the  government,  and  demanded  that 
he  should  either  retract  or  be  excluded  from 
the  Nine  and  the  council.  This  behest  was  rati- 
fied and  the  author  of  the  journal  was  unseated, 
but  the  popular  sympathy  was  strong  in  his 
favor. 

Stuyvesant  failed  to  obstruct  the  appeal  to 
Holland.  The  Nine  sent  a  petition  to  the 
States  General,  accompanied  by  an  elaborate 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       73 

"  remonstrance "  against  the  management  of 
the  West  India  Company  in  the  province,  and 
a  detailed  statement  of  grievances  and  of  meas- 
ures for  relief.  The  first  demand  was  for  abdi- 
cation of  power  by  the  company  in  favor  of  the 
States  General.  The  second  was  for  a  public 
school  with  at  least  two  good  masters.  The 
third  was  for  "  godly,  honorable,  and  intelli- 
gent rulers,"  because  *'  a  covetous  governor 
makes  poor  subjects,"  and  "  the  mode  in  which 
the  country  was  then  governed  was  intoler- 
able." With  public  colonization  New  Nether- 
land  would  on  these  conditions  "  in  a  few  years 
be  a  brave  place,  and  be  able  to  do  service  to 
the  Netherland  nation,  to  pay  richly  the  cost, 
and  to  thank  its  benefactors." 

Both  sides  sent  representatives  to  Holland. 
For  the  people,  Van  der  Donck  and  two  others 
of  the  Nine  appeared,  with  Domine  Backerus, 
who  had  served  as  the  successor  of  Domine 
Bogardus  at  New  Amsterdam,  and  who  now 
returned,  leaving  Megapolensis  as  the  only 
clergyman  in  the  province.  On  behalf  of  the 
director,  Cornells  van  Tienhoven,  his  secretary, 
was  the  delegate.  By  the  Nine  sixty-eight 
specifications  were  submitted  to  the  States" 
General  of  "  excessive  and  most  prejudicial 
neglect "  on  the  part  of  the  company,  resulting 
in  making  the  condition  of  New  Netherland  far 


74  NEW  YORK. 

inferior  to  that  of  New  England.  A  committee 
of  the  States  General  reported  to  that  body  in 
1650  a  "provisional  order"  for  the  settlement 
of  the  controversy.  In  that  document  we  can 
discern  the  extent  of  the  evils  which  really 
existed,  and  the  remedies  which  far-sighted 
statesmen  proposed.  It  condemned  Kieft  for 
bringing  on  the  Indian  war,  and  forbade  hos- 
tilities against  *'  the  aborigines  or  neighbors " 
without  action  of  the  States  General.  It  re- 
quired that  the  sale  of  arms  and  ammunition  to 
the  red  men  should  be  prevented,  and  the  in- 
habitants enrolled  as  militia.  Three  clergy- 
men were  to  be  provided  for  the  province,  and 
the  youth  were  to  be  instructed  by  good  school- 
masters. The  commonalty  was  to  be  convoked 
and  was  to  choose  two  members  of  the  council, 
and  the  "  collection,  administration,  and  pay- 
ment "  of  taxes  were  to  be  "  placed  on  such 
footing  as  their  constituents  should  order." 
The  courts  should  be  reorganized,  and  burgher 
government  was  conceded  in  the  "City  of  New 
Amsterdam."  Stuj^vesant  was  to  be  called  to 
Holland  to  report,  and  a  suitable  person,  "  ex- 
perienced in  matters  relating  to  agriculture," 
was  to  be  dispatched  to  "  take  charge  of  the 
country  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  great  North 
River,  extending  south  to  the  South  River,  and 
north  to  the  Fresh  River." 


CULMINATION   OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       75 

The  Amsterdam  chamber  criticised  and  op- 
posed this  provisional  order.  The  contest  was 
waged  in  the  province  and  in  Holland.  The 
English  in  the  province  took  the  side  of  the 
director,  while  the  Dutch  were  m<)re  and  more 
arrayed  against  him,  and  the  Nine  renewed  and 
expanded  their  complaints  in  additional  papers 
forwarded  to  the  States  General.  In  Holland 
the  "remonstrance"  had  been  published,  and 
was  answered  by  a  "  brief  statement "  by  the 
secretary,  Van  Tienhoven.  Stuy vesant  afforded 
fresh  grounds  for  criticism  by  his  operations 
against  the  Swedes  on  the  South  River,  and  by 
a  treaty  which  he  negotiated  at  Hartford  con- 
cerning affairs  and  boundaries  on  the  Fresh 
River.  Dissensions  arose  between  the  various 
chambers  of  the  West  India  Company,  and  the 
greed  and  control  of  the  Amsterdam  chamber 
were  resented.  In  1652  the  Amsterdam  cham- 
ber yielded,  and  removed  the  export  duty  on 
tobacco  which  had  been  collected  in  the  prov- 
ince, permitted  the  importation  of  slaves  from 
Africa,  and  reduced  the  charges  for  passage  of 
emigrants.  Burgher  government  was  conceded 
to  New  Amsterdam  with  the  condition  that  the 
schout  or  sheriff  should  maintain  the  privileges 
of  the  West  India  Company. 

Stuyvesant  was  far  enough  away  from  Hol- 
land to  exercise  his  own  will  with  little  let  or 


76  NEW  YORK. 

hindrance.  He  paid  scant  heed  to  the  orders 
of  tlie  States  General  in  behalf  of  Kuyter  and 
Melyn  against  his  sentence.  While  he  tried 
to  prevent  the  sale  of  arms  by  others  to  the 
Indians,  he  imported  a  case  of  guns  himself  to 
sell  to  them,  and  the  Amsterdam  chamber  cen- 
sured him  for  the  act  and  for  the  purchase  of 
lands  on  Manhattan  Island  for  private  purposes. 
Patroon  Van  Rensselaer,  in  1649,  bought  from 
the  red  men  tracts  at  Catskill  and  Claverack, 
and  to  check  such  purchases  the  director  se- 
cured for  the  company  the  Indian  title  to  what 
is  now  the  chief  part  of  Westchester  County. 
He  refused  to  recognize  the  "  provisional  order  " 
of  the  States  General.  He  prevented  the  mus- 
tering of  the  burgher  guard,  and  deprived  the 
Nine  of  the  pew  in  the  church  which  the  con- 
sistory had  assigned  to  them.  He  neglected  to 
send  to  the  authorities  in  Holland  any  copy  of 
the  treaty  which  he  negotiated  at  Hartford. 
He  set  up  a -body  guard  of  four  soldiers,  who 
attended  him  whenever  he  went  abroad.  In 
his  hate  of  Melyn  he  seized  a  ship  in  which 
the  latter  had  returned  from  Europe,  and  on  a 
technicality  confiscated  vessel  and  cargo,  for 
which,  after  a  long  suit,  the  West  India  Com- 
pany was  compelled  to  make  restitution.  Stuy- 
vesant  went  even  further.  He  sent  soldiers  to 
arrest  the  vice-director,  Van  Dincklagen,  and 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       77 

held  him  a  prisoner  in  a  guard-room  for.  several 
daj^s.  Dirck  van  Schelluyne,  a  notary  public, 
who  had  come  out  in  1650  to  practice  his  pro- 
fession, had  given  the  vice-director  professional 
aid,  and  was  forbidden  to  practice  further.  Tlie 
sch out-fiscal.  Van  Dyck,  was  excluded  from  the 
council.  With  such  a  high  hand  Stuyvesant 
bore  sway,  and,  like  other  arbitrary  rulers,  fell 
into  the  practice  of  mingling  his  resentments 
with  his  assertion  of  authority.  Like  his  pred- 
ecessor, he  taught  the  colonists  to  consult  for 
their  own  rights  and  interests. 

Under  the  Dutch  sway  religion  and  educa- 
tion received  early  and  constant  attention.  In 
1650  William  Vestens  was  sent  from  Amster- 
dam as  schoolmaster  and  consoler  of  the  sick. 
A  common  school  was  maintained  at  the  time 
with  a  succession  of  teachers.  In  1652  Domine 
Samuel  Drisius,  who  could  preach  in  Dutch, 
French,  and  English,  was  sent  as  colleague  for 
Megapolensis,  at  a  salary  of  fourteen  hundred 
and  fifty  guilders,  and  Domine  Gideon  Schaats, 
at  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  guilders,  came  out 
to  Rensselaerwyck  as  preacher  and  school- 
master. Four  years  later  Domine  Johannes 
Theodorus  Polhemus,  who  had  been  in  Brazil, 
arrived  and  was  made  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Flatbush.  Brooklyn  had  no  separate  pastor 
until  1660,  when  Domine  Henry  Selyns  came 


78  NEW  YORK. 

from  Holland  to  occupy  that  position.  In  1654 
the  Lutherans  asked  permission  to  erect  a 
church  in  New  Amsterdam,  but  the  director 
refused  to  permit  them  to  do  so,  and  an  appeal 
to  the  West  India  Company  brought  the  an- 
swer that  no  other  doctrine  should  be  encour- 
aged in  the  province  than  "  the  true  reformed." 
The  classis  of  Amsterdam  in  Holland  claimed 
spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the  province.  Domine 
Megapolensis,  zealous  in  seeking  to  instruct  the 
red  men,  was  no  less  intent  on  enforcing  the 
teachings  of  the  Synod  of  Dort.  In  the  English 
settlements  these  teachings  were  not  accepted 
as  binding,  and  there  were  Lutherans  among 
the  Dutch.  On  the  appeal  of  the  reformed 
clergymen  Director  Stuyvesant,  in  1656,  issued 
a  proclamation  forbidding  preachers  not  called 
by  ecclesiastical  or  temporal  authority  to  hold 
meetings,  under  a  penalty  of  a  hundred  pounds; 
and  any  person  attending  assemblages  ad- 
dressed by  such  preachers  was  to  be  fined 
twenty-five  pounds.  The  prohibition  was  vig- 
orously enforced  until  the  West  India  Company 
rebuked  the  director,  and  declared  its  purpose 
to  let  the  Lutherans  and  logically  others  out- 
side of  the  reformed  communion  "  enjoy  all 
calmness  and  tranquillity."  In  the  succeeding 
year,  however,  John  Ernestus  Goetwater,  a 
Lutheran  clergyman  who  had  been  sent  out  to 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.        79 

preach,  was  notified  that  "he  might  have  free- 
dom within  his  own  dwelling,"  but  could  not 
organize  a  church,  and  he  was  silenced.  Two 
Quaker  women,  Dorothy  Waugh  and  Mary 
Witherhead,  banished  from  Boston,  were  im- 
prisoned for  preaching  in  the  streets,  but  were 
discharged  after  a  few  days.  Robert  Hodgson, 
a  Quaker,  fared  worse  for  preaching  in  Flush- 
ing. He  was  taken  to  the  dungeon  of  Fort 
Amsterdam,  was  fined  and  set  to  work,  and 
failing  in  his  task  was  beaten  with  a  tarred 
rope  until  he  fell.  He  was  finally  released  and 
compelled  to  leave  the  province.  In  Jamaica 
and  Flushing  and  Heemstede,  also,  severe  meas- 
ures were  taken  against  Quaker  teachers  and 
such  as  listened  to  them,  and  fines  and  impris- 
onment were  imposed  on  many  persons.  So 
abominable  was  the  heresy  regarded,  and  so 
dangerous,  that  Stuyvesant  and  his  council  pro- 
claimed a  fast  day  to  check  its  progress.  The 
authorities  in  Holland  found  it  necessary  to 
■warn  the  clergymen  of  New  Amsterdam  against 
"  overbearing  preciseness,"  and  to  counsel  them 
to  try,  by  adhering  to  old  forms  rather  than 
new,  to  keep  the  Lutherans  within  the  fold. 

The  States  General  in  1661  sought  to  tempt 
immigrants  by  inviting  "  Christian  people  of 
tender  conscience,  in  England  or  elsewhere  op- 
pressed," to  make  homes  within  the  jurisdiction 


80  NEW  YORK. 

of  Stuyvesant.  He,  however,  kept  up  his  per- 
secutions of  the  Quakers  until  he  banished  John 
Bowne  for  holding  meetings  of  the  sect  in  his  own 
house.  The  martyr  proceeded  to  Amsterdam, 
and  the  directors  of  the  West  India  Company, 
after  listening  to  his  plea,  rebuked  Stuyvesant 
and  announced  to  him  this  rule  of  religious 
freedom :  "  Let  every  one  remain  free  as  long 
as  he  is  modest,  moderate,  his  political  conduct 
irreproachable,  and  as  long  as  he  does  not  of- 
fend others  or  oppose  the  government.  This 
maxim  of  moderation  has  always  been  the 
guide  of  our  magistrates  in  this  city,  and  the 
consequence  has  been  that  people  have  flocked 
from  every  land  to  this  asylum.  Tread  thus 
in  tlieir  steps  and  we  doubt  not  you  will  be 
blessed." 

February  2, 1653,  Stuyvesant  issued  his  proc- 
lamation to  set  in  motion  the  burgher  govern- 
ment conceded  to  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam. 
He  assumed  the  authority  to  name  the  burgo- 
masters, the  schepens,  and  the  fiscal.  One  of 
the  first  tasks  of  the  new  government  was  to 
provide  for  the  defense  of  the  city,  for  war 
had  broken  out  between  England  and  Holland. 
The  New  England  colonies  were  also  ready  for 
attack,  excited  by  a  charge  that  the  Dutch 
governor  had  tried  to  hire  the  Indians  to  kill 
all  the  English.    The  people  set  to  work  on  the 


CULMINATION  OF   THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       81 

defenses,  provided  for  money  by  loan  and  then 
by  tax,  and  a  ditch  and  palisades  twelve  feet 
high  with  a  breastwork  were  constructed  in- 
closing the  city  from  the  East  to  the  North 
Kiver.  Fort  Orange  was  also  prepared  for 
defense.  Stuyvesant  undertook  to  adjust  the 
difficulties  with  New  England,  and  invited 
commissioners  to  come  to  New  Amsterdam  for 
the  purpose.  Their  visit  produced  no  direct 
result  other  than  to  incite  Captain  John  Under- 
hill  to  hoist  the  colors  of  the  English  parlia- 
ment at  Heemstede  and  Flushing,  and  to  seek 
to  stir  up  armed  revolt.  He  was  banished  from 
the  colony  and  fled  to  Rhode  Island,  where  a 
commission  was  given  to  him  and  to  others  to 
prey  on  Dutch  commerce.  The  attempt  to  or- 
ganize war  between  the  colonies  failed  for  the 
time,  although  by  excluding  Dutch  vessels  from 
New  England  harbors  and  renewing  and  pub- 
lishing the  charges  of  inciting  the  Indians  to 
slaughter,  the  eastern  colonists  kept  alive  the 
embers  of  strife. 

Under  this  stress  and  a  movement  from  the 
colonists  on  Long  Island,  delegates  convened  to 
consult  for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  A  pre- 
liminary gathering  arranged  for  a  popular  con- 
vention at  New  Amsterdam,  December  10, 1653. 
The  delegates  came  from  New  Amsterdam, 
Brooklyn,    Flashing,   Middleburg,   Heemstede, 


82  NEW  YORK. 

Amersfoort,  Flatbush,  and  Gravesend.  Four 
Dutch  and  four  English  towns  were  represented 
by  ten  persons  of  Dutch  nativity  and  nine  of 
English  nativity.  This  convention  unanimously 
adopted  a  remonstrance  to  the  States  General 
protesting  against  the  course  of  the  director 
and  council  in  enacting  laws  and  appointing 
officers  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  and 
against  the  granting  of  large  tracts  of  land  to 
favored  individuals.  Stuyvesant  prepared  a 
formal  answer  to  this  document.  The  remon- 
strance is  a  singularly  clear  declaration  of  pop- 
ular rights  combined  with  loyalty  to  the  States 
General.  The  answer  is  a  spiteful  arraignment 
of  the  delegates  and  a  bold  denial  of  the  wis- 
dom of  elections,  where  "each  would  vote  for 
one  of  his  own  stamp,  the  thief  for  a  thief,  the 
rogue,  the  tippler,  and  the  smuggler  for  his 
brother  in  iniquity,  so  that  he  may  enjoy  more 
latitude  in  vice  and  fraud."  To  a  rejoinder 
the  director  responded  with  an  order  to  the 
delegates  to  disperse,  with  his  declaration :  "  We 
derive  our  authority  from  God  and  the  com- 
pany, not  from  a  few  ignorant  subjects,  and  we 
alone  can  call  the  inhabitants  together." 

The  burgomasters  and  schepens  appealed  to 
the  West  India  Company  for  fuller  powers  for 
the  municipal  government,  like  those  of  the 
home  city,   especially  for   the    election   of  the 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  SWAY.        83 

fiscal  and  complete  control  of  the  whole  excise, 
and  power  to  levy  new  taxes  and  to  farm  out 
the  ferry  between  New  Amsterdam  and  Brook- 
lyn. The  magistrates  of  Gravesend,  by  letter, 
renewed  their  allegiance  to  the  States  General 
and  the  company,  while  reciting  certain  griev- 
ances, and  Francois  le  Bleeuw,  an  advocate, 
went  as  agent  to  Holland  to  plead  the  popular 
cause. 

Such  events  did  not  tend  to  reduce  the  fric- 
tion in  the  province,  where  the  English  began 
to  show  sympathy  with  the  eastern  colonists 
just  at  the  time  that  Connecticut  seized  on  the 
Fort  of  Good  Hope  at  Hartford,  and  news  came 
that  Cromwell  had  sent  four  ships  of  war  to 
help  in  the  capture  of  "  the  Manhattoes  "  and 
any  place  held  by  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson 
River.  New  England  was  ready  for  active  hos- 
tilities, when  information  was  received  of  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  of  peace  between  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  April  15,  1654,  and  the 
threatened  collision  was  postponed.  Stuyve- 
sant  showed  zeal,  courage,  and  capacity  in  his 
preparations  for  defense,  and  he  granted  some 
privileges  to  the  Dutch  towns  which  took  part 
with  him  in  the  work. 

Bleeuw,  the  agent  of  the  burghers,  was  not 
received  with  favor  by  the  Amsterdam  cham- 
ber.    On  the  contrary,  the  members  declared 


84  NEW  YORK. 

that  Stuyvesant  should  have  acted  with  more 
vigor,  and  commanded  him  to  punish  the  com- 
plainants so  that  others  might  be  deterred  from 
follov^ing  their  example.  They  charged  the 
burgomasters  and  schepens  to  ''  submit  to  tlie 
government  placed  over  them,"  and  "  in  nowise 
to  hold  particular  convention  with  the  English 
or  others  on  affairs  of  state  which  do  not  per- 
tain to  you,  and  what  is  yet  worse,  attempt  an 
alteration  in  the  state  and  its  government." 
The  director  soon  resumed  the  contiol  of  the 
excise,  which  he  farmed  out.  He  found  people 
at  Beaverwyck  and  on  the  lands  of  the  patroon 
about  Fort  Orange  unwilling  to  pay  taxes  to 
the  company.  Trouble  befell  him  also  from 
the  affairs  on  the  South  River,  for  at  this  time 
Fort  Casimir  was  surprised,  and  he  secured  only 
partial  satisfaction  by  seizing  a  Swedish  ship, 
the  Shark,  which  by  mistake  entered  Manhat- 
tan Bay.  The  purchase  by  English  colonists  of 
land  in  what  is  now  Westchester  County  and 
at  Oyster  Bay  called  out  protests  from  the  di- 
rector, but  they  proved  of  no  effect.  The  Eng- 
lish at  Gravesend  had  hoisted  a  British  flag 
and  given  signs  of  sedition. 

Yet  Stuyvesant  must  have  regarded  affairs 
as  in  the  main  satisfactory,  for  in  December, 
1654,  he  took  a  trip  to  the  West  Indies  to  es- 
tablish trade  with    those    islands.     The  vessels 


CULMINATION  OF   THE  DUTCH  SWAY,       85 

he  took  were  seized  by  British  commissioners, 
who  enforced  a  rigid  embargo.  As  soon  as  he 
returned  the  recovery  of  Fort  Casimir  demanded 
liis  attention.  He  was  absent  on  the  South 
River  wlien  New  Amsterdam  and  its  vicinity 
were  startled  by  a  demonstration  by  Indians  in 
force.  Van  Dyck,  who  had  been  schout-fiscal, 
had  killed  a  squaw  for  stealing  peaches  from 
his  garden,  and  bands  of  the  river  tribes,  said  to 
number  nineteen  hundred,  appeared  in  canoes 
before  the  city,  in  the  early  morning,  Septem- 
ber 15,  1655.  They  killed  Van  Dyck  with  an 
arrow  and  another  burgher  with  an  axe,  before 
they  were  driven  back  to  their  canoes.  They 
turned  their  weapons  against  Hoboken,  Pavo- 
nia,  and  Staten  Island,  and  in  three  days  a 
hundred  Dutch  settlers  were  killed,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  taken  prisoners,  and  the  damages  were 
estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand  guilders. 
Some  of  the  prisoners  were  ransomed,  and 
Stuyvesant  entered  into  treaties  with  the  red 
men  on  Long  Island  and  renewed  intimate  alli- 
ance with  the  Mohawks.  Help  was  asked  from 
the  authorities  in  Holland,  block-houses  were 
erected  at  exposed  points,  the  settlers  were 
enjoined  to  form  villages  for  self-defense,  and 
after  a  while  arms  were  furnished  to  some  of 
the  inhabitants  with  which  to  protect  them- 
selves.    For  three  years  peace  was  preserved. 


86  NEW  YORK. 

Esopus  then  becaaie  the  seat  of  new  troubles. 
The  settlers  there  insisted  on  living  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  centre  and  each  other,  and  since 
they  had  found  liquor  the  readiest  means  of 
buying  furs  from  the  red  men  they  paid  them 
in  the  desired  commodity.  Quarrels  were  the 
natural  result,  and  persons  were  killed  and 
houses  burned.  Stuyvesant  visited  the  place, 
conferred  with  the  red  men,  promised  them 
presents,  and  found  it  necessary  to  guard  the 
settlers  by  soldiers.  Some  of  these  became  ex- 
cited at  seeing  the  red  men  in  a  drunken  ca- 
rouse and  fired  on  them.  This  slaughter  was 
revenged  by  the  seizure  of  Dutch  prisoners, 
eight  of  whom  were  burned  at  the  stake,  and 
by  the  destruction  of  buildings  and  crops.  A 
truce  was  secured  through  the  mediation  of  the 
Mohawks,  with  whom  the  Dutch,  with  much 
formality,  had  framed  fresh  treaties.  But  hos- 
tilities were  revived;  the  soldiers  attacked  the 
red  men,  and  took  prisoners,  most  of  whom 
were  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  but  one  of  the 
oldest  chiefs  was,  after  capture,  killed  with  his 
own  tomahawk.  Not  until  1660  was  a  treaty 
of  peace  framed,  when  a  Mohawk  and  a  Min- 
qua  sachem  acted  as  arbitrators,  and  enjoined 
upon  both  parties  to  live  in  amity. 

In  1656  Stuyvesant  conceded  to  the  burgo- 
masters  and  schepei.s  of  New  Amsterdam  the 


CULMINATION  OF   THE  DUTCH  SWAY.       87 

riglit  to  nominate  their  successors,  subject  to  liis 
approval.  After  some  friction  the  privileges 
of  Westchester  were  enlarged  and  a  village 
was  set  up,  now  known  as  Jamaica.  In  1658 
a  petition  was  submitted  to  the  Amsterdam 
chamber  for  a  master  for  a  Latin  school,  and 
the  next  year  Alexander  Carolus  Curtius,  a 
professor  in  Lithuania,  came  out  in  that  capa- 
city, but  he  gave  way  in  1661  to  Domine  Aegi- 
dius  Luyck,  whose  reputation  drew  pupils  from 
families  as  far  away  as  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas. 

The  province  was  growing  in  these  years, 
notwithstanding  Indian  troubles  and  religious 
controversies.  New  Harlaem  secured  a  village 
charter.  A  municipal  court  was  established  at 
Esopus,  under  the  name  of  Wiltwyck,  the  first 
in  the  present  county  of  Ulster.  Settlers  were 
planting  homes  north  and  west  of  Fort  Orange, 
and,  in  1G61,  Arendt  van  Curler,  for  love  and 
trust  for  whom  the  white  governors  were  long 
known  to  the  red  men  by  the  name  by  which 
they  called  him,  "  Corlaer,  "  was  authorized  to 
buy  the  "  Great  Flats  "  where  Schenectady  now 
stands.  In  1642  he  was  the  first  from  the 
south  and  east  to  penetrate  the  Mohawk  coun- 
try, visiting  the  castles,  and  seeking  to  miti- 
gate the  condition  of  Father  Jogues  and  other 
French  prisoners.     He  not  only  reported  the 


88  NEW  YORK. 

lands  *'the  most  beautiful  that  eye  ever  saw," 
but  established  with  the  red  men  a  friendship 
both  romantic  and  beneficent.  Bergen  received 
name  and  local  magistrates,  and  marked  the 
beginning  of  municipal  administration  in  the 
present  State  of  New  Jersey.  The  West  In- 
dia Company  secured  all  the  patroon  titles  on 
Staten  Island,  and  gave  grants  of  land  there  to 
Waldenses  and  Huguenots.  An  association  of 
Mennonists  was  assisted  to  locate  south  of  the 
city. 

Esopus  was  again  to  be  the  centre  of  strife 
and  carnage.  In  1663  the  continued  sale  of 
liquor  and  fire-arms  to  the  red  men  threatened 
trouble ;  but  the  settlers  permitted  themselves 
to  be  surprised,  when  the  village  of  Wiltwyck 
was  nearly  destroyed,  with  the  loss  of  twenty- 
one  lives,  and  forty-five,  chiefly  women  and 
children,  carried  into  captivity.  Expeditions 
were  sent  from  New  Amsterdam,  so  that  the 
red  men  were  punished,  and  the  settlements  at 
this  point  were  strengthened. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SUBRENDER    OF    THE    DUTCH. 

1663-1674. 

On  various  occasions  the  English  settlers, 
especially  on  Long  Island,  had  given  signs  that 
they  were  a  distinct  body  from  the  Dutch  in- 
habitants. They  had  acted  together  for  or 
against  Director  Stuyvesant  as  they  had  seen 
fit.  In  the  appeals  to  Holland  against  him  they 
had  joined  in  declarations  of  hearty  loyalty  to 
the  fatherland.  In  1663  several  of  them  resid- 
ing in  Jamaica,  Middleburg,  and  Heemstede 
sent  a  petition  to  Hartford  asking  Connecticut 
to  cast  "  the  skirts  of  its  government"  over  them 
to  protect  them  from  their  "  bondage,"  and  sug- 
gesting also  the  seizure  of  the  Dutch  towns  on 
Long  Island.  The  general  assembly  of  Con- 
necticut challenged  the  authority  of  the  West 
India  Company  except  as  a  trading  corporation, 
and  the  English  settlers  on  Long  Island  seemed 
intent  on  actual  revolution.  To  meet  the  emer- 
gency Stuyvesant  called  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates at  New  Amsterdam.     Eight  towns  were 


90  NEW  YORK. 

represented,  while  those  on  the  upper  Hudson 
sent  no  delegates.  The  remedy  for  the  evils 
was,  as  so  often  before,  an  appeal  to  Holland, 
now  especially  for  formal  proclamation  of  the 
rights  of  the  West  India  Company,  in  a  form  to 
restrain  the  English  and  to  confirm  the  loyalty 
of  the  Dutch  settlers.  In  the  mean  time  Stny- 
vesant  agreed  to  a  proposition  from  Connecticut 
to  forbear  the  exeicise  of  jurisdiction  by  either 
claimant  in  Westchester  and  on  Long  Island. 

The  signs  of  English  aggression  multiplied. 
John  Scott,  who  had  brought  out  stringent 
orders  for  the  enforcement  of  the  British  navi- 
gation laws  in  the  colonies,  and  who  claimed 
tbat  Long  Island  belonged  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
was  designated  a  commissioner  by  Connecticut, 
and  he  organized  a  combination  of  the  English 
towns  on  Long  Island.  He  was  chosen  presi- 
dent of  the  combination,  which  was  to  last 
until  the  English  king  or  the  Duke  of  York 
should  establish  a  government  over  the  town. 
He  tried  to  draw  the  Dutch  towns  on  the  island 
into  the  combination,  but  they  refused  to  join 
in  it.  In  1664  Stuyvesant  and  Scott  made  an 
arrangement  by  which  the  question  of  jurisdic- 
tion should  be  referred  to  England  and  Hol- 
land for  adjustment.  In  the  mean  time  the 
English  towns  were  for  twelve  months  to  be 
under  the  English  crown,  and  the  Dutch  towns 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  91 

under  tlie  States  General,  but  the  latter  were 
to  pay  royalties  to  the  English  king. 

The  Dutch  authorities  determined  to  fortify 
New  Amsterdam  and  to  increase  its  military 
force,  so  as  to  maintain  two  hundred  militia- 
men and  a  hundred  and  sixty  regular  soldiers. 
Another  popular  convention  was  held  in  1664, 
and  twelve  towns  sent  delegates.  The  first  de- 
mand was  for  the  provincial  government  to 
protect  the  people  against  the  savages  and  "  the 
malignant  English."  The  convention  wanted 
the  States  General  or  the  company  to  meet  the 
expense.  Director  Stuyvesant  responded  that 
the  company  had  spent  on  the  province  twelve 
hundred  thousand  guilders  more  than  it  had 
received.  The  convention  received  from  the 
States  General  answers  to  the  appeals  of  the 
preceding  year.  The  authority  of  the  West 
India  Company  was  ratified  and  proclaimed, 
and  the  provincial  government  was  ordered  to 
exterminate  the  Indians  about  Esopus,  to  check 
the  English,  and  to  subject  the  revolted  settlers 
to  allegiance.  To  help  in  these  tasks  sixty  ad- 
ditional soldiers  were  sent  out.  The  Esopus 
war  was  onded  by  a  treaty  of  peace,  which  was 
celebrated  by  a  day  of  thanksgiving.  The  re- 
volt on  Long  Island  and  the  aggressions  of  the 
English  from  without,  the  convention  pro- 
nounced beyond  its  power  to  meet.     The  let- 


92  NEW  YORK. 

lers  of  the  States  General  were  indeed  laughed 
to  scorn  in  the  Enghsh  towns,  and  Governor 
Winthrop  formally  repudiated  the  temporary 
arrangement  for  jurisdiction  and  asserted  the 
absolute  title  of  the  English  king. 

Vessels  were  already  at  sea,  sent  by  the  Duke 
of  York,  as  Lord  High  Admiral  of  England,  to 
enforce  his  claims  not  only  to  Long  Island,  but 
to  the  whole  of  New  Netherland.  Rumors  of 
the  expedition  had  reached  Director  Stuyve- 
sant,  but  a  dispatch  from  the  Amsterdam  cham- 
ber announced  that  the  purpose  of  the  Duke 
of  York  was  to  establish  Episcopacy  in  the 
English  colonies  and  to  look  after  their  affairs. 
The  English  squadron,  however,  after  rendez- 
vousing at  Gardiner's  Island,  summoned  help 
from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  came 
to  anchor  off  Coney  Island.  It  blockaded  the 
river  and  the  bay,  seized  several  vessels,  and 
August  29, 1664,  the  commander.  Colonel  Rich- 
ard Nicolls,  demanded  the  surrender  of  the 
"  towns  situated  on  the  island  commonly  known 
by  the  name  of  Manhattoes,  with  all  the  forts 
thereunto  belonging.'* 

The  town  was  in  no  condition  for  defense. 
The  fort  had  been  pronounced  untenable.  The 
burghers  had  long  been  impressed  with  the  neg- 
lect of  the  Dutch  authorities  at  home.  Stuy- 
vesant  was   plucky   and  loyal   and  wanted    to 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  93 

resist,  but  he  notified  the  Amsterdam  cham- 
ber that  "  Long  Island  was  gone  and  lost,"  and 
New  Amsterdam  "  could  not  hold  out  much 
longer."  NicoUs,  the  English  commander, 
adroitly  promised  to  hold  the  place  subject  to 
negotiations  between  the  home  governments, 
and  to  extend  to  the  Dutch  equal  privileges 
with  the  English  in  case  the  surrender  should 
be  made.  In  vain  Stuyvesant  stood  on  one  of 
the  angles  of  the  fort,  ready  to  fire  on  the  fleet, 
for  the  domines  in  behalf  of  the  people  begged 
hiui  to  desist.  Placing  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  little  garrison,  he  then  proposed  to  resist 
the  landing  of  the  English,  when  petitions  of 
men,  women,  and  children  came  to  him  to  sur- 
render, and  he  sadly  answered,  "  I  would  much 
rather  be  carried  out  dead."  A  formal  remon- 
strance against  further  opposition  was  signed 
by  most  of  the  officers  and  many  principal  in- 
habitants, and  the  brave  director  was  compelled 
to  yield.  Security  of  property,  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  of  church  discipline,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  existing  customs  of  inheritance, 
were  guaranteed  to  the  Dutch  settlers,  and  mil- 
itary pride  was  flattered  by  allowing  the  garri- 
son to  "march  out  with  their  arms,  drums 
beating  and  colors  flying  and  lighted  matches." 
The  surrender  was  made  September  3,  but  was 
not  formally  completed  until  September  8. 


94  NEW  YORK. 

The  treachery  of  James  Stuart,  Duke  of 
York,  thus  broke  the  Dutch  domination  in  New 
Netherland,  and  foreshadowed  its  end.  The 
Dutch  rule  had  lacked  system,  vigor,  construc- 
tive and  generative  force.  The  divided  author- 
ity in  Holland  had  rendered  it  weak  in  mat- 
ters of  vast  moment,  and  negligent  of  provis- 
ion for  large  growth  and  permanent  prosperity. 
The  personal  power  confided  to  the  director 
general  encouraged  him  in  an  arbitrary  policy, 
and  the  temper  of  the  incumbents  of  that  ofiice 
did  not  tend  to  diminish  the  evil  inherent  in 
the  system.  Those  very  evils  developed  here, 
as  such  causes  elsewhere  have  done,  resistance 
to  oppression  and  the  assertion  of  popular  rights. 
The  intellectual  and  religious  activity  and  free- 
dom which  illuminated  the  home  country  at 
that  epoch  were  transferred  to  New  Nether- 
land, and  while  something  of  the  intolerance 
which  in  that  age  was  so  general  stained  its 
records,  this  colony  beyond  any  other,  except 
that  founded  by  Roger  Williams,  was  the  ref- 
uge of  the  persecuted  of  every  sect.  One  of 
the  last  acts  of  Stuyvesant  was  to  welcome  a 
company  of  French  Huguenots,  and  in  spite  of 
his  own  previous  attitude,  one  of  his  last  com- 
munications to  his  directors  proclaimed  that  it 
''  would  be  highly  desirable  that  the  yet  waste 
lands  which  might  feed  a  hundred  thousand  in- 


SURRENDER  OF  THE  DUTCH.  95 

habitants,  should  be  settled  and  cultivated  by 
the  oppressed ;  on  the  one  side  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  France,  Savoy,  Piedmont,  and  else- 
where, and  on  the  other  by  the  Turks  in  Hun- 
gary and  upon  the  confines  of  Germany."  This 
was  a  vision  of  cosmopolitan  growth  not  com- 
mon in  those  days.  But  New  Netherland  had 
even  then  a  population  more  diversified  than 
any  other  American  colony.  Stuyvesant  esti- 
mated it  at  full  ten  thousand  in  number,  but 
others  placed  it  at  six  thousand.  Perhaps  eight 
thousand  is  a  liberal  estimate.  Agriculture  was 
prospering  ;  the  trade  inland  with  the  red  men 
was  profitable  and  was  extending.  The  Am- 
sterdam chamber  declared,  when  its  population 
and  navigation  "  should  become  permanently 
established,  when  the  ships  of  New  Netherland 
ride  on  every  part  of  the  ocean,  then  numbers, 
now  looking  to  that  coast  with  eager  eyes,  will 
be  allured  to  embark  for  your  island."  Stuy- 
vesant labored  to  extend  the  foreign  trade  of 
the  province,  but  he  was  met  on  every  hand  by 
British  restriction,  by  the  severe  enforcement 
of  the  navigation  laws,  and  by  a  jealousy  which 
was  argus-eyed,  and  a  rivalry  which  brooked 
no  competition. 

His  surrender  galled  his  proud  spirit,  but  it 
was  unavoidable.  He  was  summoned  to  Hol- 
land to  give  account  o*"  his  conduct,  and  bore 


96  NEW  YORK. 

with  him  warm  testimonials  of  the  burgomas- 
tei's,  and  was  in  the  end  sustained  by  the  gov- 
ernment, aUliough  the  West  India  Company 
blamed  him  for  the  consequences  of  its  own 
neglect.  When  by  the  Treaty  of  Breda  the 
Dutch  finally  conceded  the  American  colony  to 
the  English,  Stuyvesant  set  about  increasing 
its  commerce  by  securing  concessions  to  Dutch 
vessels.  Returning  to  New  York,  he  made  his 
farm,  the  Bowery,  a  feature  in  the  town,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty.  His  monument  may 
still  be  seen  by  the  studious  visitor. 

The  Dutch  soldiers  were  sent  aboard  ship, 
destined  for  Holland,  as  Nicolls,  the  English 
commander,  at  the  head  of  his  infantry,  took 
possession  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  The  Long 
Island  and  New  England  auxiliaries  were  not 
allowed  to  enter  the  town,  and  were  soon  dis- 
missed to  their  homes.  The  city  was  at  once 
officially  named  New  York  and  the  fort  was 
called  Fort  James.  The  English  governor  sur- 
rounded himself  with  English  counselors  and 
an  English  secretary,  occasionally  summoning 
one  or  two  of  the  former  Dutch  counselors  for 
advice.  The  religious  situation  remained  as  it 
had  been  except  that  services  after  the  Episco- 
pal  order  were  established  in  addition  to  those 
previously  held. 

Fort  Orange  accepted  the  terms  of  capitula^ 


SURRENDER   OF   THE  DUTCH,  97 

tion  and  was  clnistened  Albany,  and  an  English 
garrison  was  placed  there  under  command  of 
Captain  Manning.  An  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Great  Britain  was  required  of  the  settlers  while 
they  lived  in  its  territories,  and  it  was  freely 
taken  as  it  included  no  renunciation  in  terms 
of  the  Dutch  government. 

The  boundaries  of  the  colony  called  for  early 
attention.  Commissioners  awarded  Long  Is- 
land, then  styled  Yorkshire,  to  New  York,  and 
refused  to  it  the  land  claimed  in  its  behalf  on 
the  Connecticut  River,  and  adjudged  for  an 
eastern  limit  a  line  running  from  the  head  of 
Mamaroneck  Creek  to  the  north  -  northwest, 
"about  twenty  miles  from  any  part  of  the 
Hudson  River."  This  line,  it  was  charged, 
was  the  result  of  a  trick  on  the  part  of  the 
Connecticut  delegates,  —  one  of  the  earliest 
"Yankee  tricks." 

Governor  NicoUs  was  the  personal  represent- 
ative of  the  Duke  of  York,  whose  patent  au- 
thorized him  to  make  all  laws  and  to  carry 
on  the  government.  In  no  other  colony  was 
arbitrary  power  so  distinctly  recognized.  It 
was  a  formality,  therefore,  in  which  the  gov- 
ernor indulged,  when  he  summoned  a  meeting 
of  two  delegates  from  each  town  to  consider  a 
code  proposed  by  him.  The  meeting  assem- 
bled  at    Hempstead  (for  English   forms  were 


98  NEW  YORK. 

now  adopted  for  the  old  Dutch  names)  Febru- 
ary 28,  1665,  and  thirty  -  four  delegates  ap- 
peared. They  asked  for  the  privilege  of  elect- 
ing their  own  officers,  but  this  was  contrary  to 
the  duke's  commission  and  was  not  granted. 
Since  they  were  not  permitted  to  do  anything 
else  they  thankfully  accepted  the  code  as  pre- 
pared, and  it  was  promulgated  as  "  The  Duke's 
Laws."  It  was  systematic  and  elaborate,  estab- 
lishing courts,  town  offices,  and  certain  rates. 
It  required  a  church  to  be  built  in  every  parish, 
and  no  minister  was  allowed  to  officiate  without 
testimonials  of  ordination.  It  provided  that 
"no  persons  should  be  molested,  fined,  or  im- 
prisoned for  differing  in  matters  of  religion 
who  profess  Christianity."  The  code  was  only 
gradually  applied  in  practice,  and  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Dutch  were  regarded.  The  task 
was  to  bring  the  Dutch,  who  wefre  a  large  ma- 
jority, under  English  laws  and  English  rule, 
and  in  the  main  Governor  NicoUs  showed  mod- 
eration and  discretion. 

The  municipal  government  of  the  city  which 
had  become  New  York  was  at  that  early  day, 
as  so  often  since,  the  cause  of  trouble.  The 
Dutch  system  was  set  aside,  and  the  English 
plan  of  mayor  and  aldermen  was  established  by 
the  governor,  with  Captain  Thomas  Willett  as 
the  first  mayor.    At  Albany,  where  he  licensed 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  99 

"  the  only  English  schoolmaster,"  the  governor 
found  that  the  Mohawks  and  the  Mohicans  had 
quarreled  and  some  Dutch  persons  were  killed. 
The  murderers  were  detected,  and  one  Indian 
was  hanged  and  another  was  sent  in  chains  to 
Fort  James.  At  Esopus  the  military  rule  was 
strengthened  with  an  injunction  to  the  com- 
mander to  maintain  peaceful  relations  with  the 
burghers.  The  forethought  of  the  governor  did 
not  prevent  a  riot,  which  it  required  all  his 
sagacity  finally  to  adjust.  By  purchase  from 
the  Indians  the  domain  of  the  Duke  of  York  in 
this  vicinity  was  extended,  and  especial  effort 
was  made  to  attract  settlers. 

In  1665  Ralph  Hall  and  his  wife,  Mary, 
were  brought  up  for  trial  for  witchcraft  and 
sorcery,  but  the  jury,  in  spite  of  "  some  suspi- 
cions," found  "nothing  considerable"  against 
them.  They  were,  however,  put  under  bonds, 
which  Governor  Nicolls,  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  ordered  canceled.  The  treatment  of  the 
charge  affords  notable  contrast  to  the  action 
taken  elsewhere  under  the  dictates  of  supersti- 
tion and  cruelty. 

As  war  progressed  between  England  and  the 
Dutch  republic.  Governor  Nicolls  enforced  a 
policy  of  confiscation  of  the  property  of  such 
Dutch  people  as  had  not  taken  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance. When  the  Dutch  power  was  restored 
vengeance  was  taken  in  turn. 


100  NEW  YORK. 

Interruption  of  trade  witli  ITolland  caused 
serious  disaster  to  the  colony,  and  relations 
with  England  were  not  yet  sufficient  to  make 
up  the  deficiency.  Of  revenue  tiie  collections 
were  inadequate  to  meet  the  charges  upon  it, 
and  the  private  fortune  of  Governor  Nicolls 
was  exhausted  in  supporting  the  government. 
He  sought  to  make  up  his  losses  by  methods 
not  above  criticism.  On  Long  Island  discon- 
tent was  general,  in  large  part  on  account  of 
"  The  Duke's  Laws,"  and  the  Court  of  Assizes 
issued  a  decree  against  sedition,  under  which 
several  persons  were  punished  by  fines  and  the 
stocks. 

The  Duke  of  York,  without  consulting  the 
governor,  gave  away  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir 
George  Carteret  a  vast  tract  of  land  to  be 
called  New  Jersey.  On  the  other  hand  Gov- 
ernor Nicolls  claimed  for  the  duke  all  the  is- 
lands fiom  Cape  Cod  to  Cape  May,  and  sent  a 
commission  to  Martha's  Vineyard,  where  he 
collected  customs.  Staten  Island  he  confiscated 
to  the  duke  as  the  property  of  the  West  India 
Company. 

In  1668  Governor  Nicolls  gave  up  his  posi- 
tion and  returned  to  personal  service  with  the 
Duke  of  York.  He  was  killed  on  board  the 
flag-ship  of  the  duke  in  the  naval  fight  in 
Solebay,  in  1672,  and  thus  the  seizure  of  New 


SURRENDER   OF   THE  DUTCH.  101 

Netherlaiid  was  avenged.  He  bore  on  his  de- 
parture from  the  colony  the  good- will  of  the 
people  and  won  the  approval  of  the  ducal  pro- 
prietor. His  rule  of  four  years  was  one  of 
difficulties,  for  the  colony  was  poor.  The  wars 
in  Europe  kept  settlers  away,  while  the  French 
overran  the  northeastern  part  of  New  York. 
His  position  was  trying,  but  he  met  his  duties 
bravely.  He  sent  out  a  privateer  in  1667 
against  the  French  and  the  Dutch,  and  its  cap- 
tain, Exton,  burned  two  forts  in  Acadia  and 
captured  as  "many  guns  and  other  plunder" 
as  his  vessel  could  carry.  Nicolls  asserted  all 
the  prerogatives  of  his  patron,  but  he  main- 
tained liberty  of  conscience,  and  when  he  went 
away  the  testimony  was  given  that  "  the  sev- 
eral nations  of  Indians  were  never  brought  into 
such  a  peaceable  posture  and  fair  correspond- 
ence as  by  his  means  they  now  are." 

The  new  governor  was  a  court  favorite, 
Francis  Lovelace.  His  task,  like  that  of  Nic- 
olls, was  to  bring  the  Dutch  quietly  under 
English  authority.  He  fostered  social  relations 
between  the  Dutch  and  English  settlers,  and 
he  was  personally  interested  in  building  two 
ships.  The  prosperity  of  New  York  city  was 
measured  by  the  possession  of  four  hundred 
houses.  Some  movement  of  migration  toward 
the  colony  was  indicated.     He  encouraged  the 


102  NEW  YORK. 

Lutherans  to  bring  a  minister  from  Holland, 
luul  sustained  him  against  opposition,  while 
the  Reformed  Church  was  protected  in  all  its 
privileges,  and  the  Presbyterians  had  a  strong 
footing,  particularly  on  Long  Island.  Reli- 
gious freedom  was  thus  fairly  illustrated. 

In  1667  petitions  were  presented  to  the  gov- 
ernor from  a  number  of  towns  asking  for  a 
legislature  chosen  by  the  freeholders,  but  an- 
swer was  not  given  until  the  coming  of  Love- 
lace, who  responded  that  he  had  no  power  to 
gi-ant  their  request,  and  "  nothing  was  required 
of  them  but  obedience  and  submission  to  the 
laws  of  the  government,  as  appears  by  his  high- 
ness' commission."  Three  years  later,  when 
Governor  Lovelace  wanted  a  levy  through  the 
Court  of  Assizes  for  the  repair  of  Fort  James, 
several  towns  objected  by  petition  and  protest, 
declining  to  aid  unless  they  should  have  the 
right  of  representation.  He  and  his  council 
ordered  the  papers  to  be  publicly  burned  as 
"  scandalous  and  seditious."  Appeal  was  made 
by  some  Long  Island  towns  to  the  king,  and 
when  war  became  flagrant  between  England 
and  Holland  a  ''benevolence"  was  asked  in- 
stead of  a  tax. 

In  1671  efforts  were  made  to  promote  migra- 
tion from  New  York  to  the  Carolinas.  Gov- 
ernor Lovelace  sought  to  check  it  by  requiring 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  103 

passports  for  departure,  but  the  number  of  emi- 
grants did  not  prove  to  be  large. 

Lovelace  continued  the  policy  of  buying 
lands  from  tlie  red  men.  A  question  which 
arose  over  the  title  to  Staten  Island  was  ended 
by  him  in  favor  of  the  Duke  of  York  by  a  deed 
obtained  by  tlie  payment  of  certain  wampum 
and  wares. 

The  establishment  of  post  messengers  be- 
tween New  York  and  Boston  is  to  be  credited 
to  Governor  Lovelace,  and  it  is  a  sign  of  the 
growing  intimacy  between  the  colonies. 

The  Dutch  navy  had  for  many  months  been 
sweeping  the  seas  in  victory,  and  a  fleet  under 
Cornells  Evertsen  and  Jacob  Binckes  had  been 
busy  on  the  coast  of  America  capturing  and 
burning  the  tobacco  ships  of  Virginia  in  spite 
of  their  armed  convoys.  Among  the  vessels 
captured  was  one  bearing  Captain  James  Car- 
teret and  his  bride  from  New  York  to  Virginia, 
and  with  them  as  a  passenger  was  Samuel  Hop- 
kins. While  the  master  of  the  ship  represented 
New  York  to  be  strong  in  its  armament  and  de- 
fenses, Hopkins  reported  truly  that  the  garrison 
consisted  of  only  sixty  or  eighty  men,  and  that 
the  fort  was  defended  by  only  thirty  to  thirty- 
six  cannon,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  raise 
more  than  three  or  four  hundred  men  against  a 
sudden  assault,  and  that  since  Governor  Love- 


104  N£W  YORK. 

lace  was  absent,  delay  would  occur  in  any  de- 
fensive movement. 

The  opportunity  V7as  welcomed  by  the  Dutch 
commodores.  They  gathered  their  fleet  off 
Sandy  Hook,  and  August  7,  1673,  anchored  op- 
posite Staten  Island.  With  seven  ships  of  war, 
they  had  sixteen  prize  vessels,  and  these  bore 
sixteen  hundred  men.  The  Dutch  inhabitants 
were  gladdened  at  the  sight,  and  many  visited 
the  fleet,  bearing  information  as  well  as  con- 
gratulations. The  next  day  the  fleet  moved 
within  the  Narrows,  and  anchored  in  sight  of 
the  city. 

Captain  Manning,  who  had  once  been  in  com- 
mand at  Albany,  and  since  Nicolls'  coming  prom- 
inent in  the  government,  was,  in  the  absence 
of  Governor  Lovelace,  in  control  at  Fort  James, 
with  Captain  Carr,  who  had  been  in  command 
on  the  Delaware,  as  his  chief  counselor.  He  ap- 
pealed for  volunteers,  seized  provisions,  and  tried 
to  put  the  fort  in  condition  for  defense.  In- 
stead of  giving  help,  the  inhabitants  spikrd  the 
guns  at  the  city  hall,  and  left  the  garrison  to  its 
fate.  The  Dutch  commodores  were  neverthe- 
less challenged  to  answer  why  they  "•  had  come 
in  such  a  hostile  manner  to  disturb  his  majes- 
ty's subjects  in  this  place?"  and  their  answer 
was,  that  the  place  "  was  their  own,  and  their 
own  they  would  have,"  and  they  demanded  the 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  105 

surrender  of  the  fort.  The  fleet  was  already 
within  musket-shot  of  the  fort,  and  when  Man- 
ning asked  for  delay  until  the  next  morning  to 
consult  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  he  was  allowed 
only  half  an  hour.  The  Dutch  commodores 
promised  "  to  all  men  their  estates  and  liber- 
ties," and  promptly  at  the  time  named  opened 
their  broadsides  on  the  fort,  and  killed  and 
wounded  some  of  the  garrison.  The  fort  re- 
turned the  fire,  and  ''shot  the  general's  ship 
thro'  and  thro'."  The  Dutch  landed  six  hun- 
dred men  at  the  point  where  Wall  Street  now 
reaches  the  East  River,  and  these  were  joined 
by  four  hundred  of  the  burghers,  and  the  lat- 
ter urged  an  immediate  advance  to  storm  the 
fort. 

Such  an  attack  was  barely  avoided.  Man- 
ning asked  for  a  parley  and  showed  a  flag  of 
truce,  but  Carr  at  the  same  time  struck  the 
royal  flag.  The  latter,  when  charged  to  convey 
to  the  fOrt  the  conditions  of  surrender  fixed  by 
the  Dutch,  fled  instead  of  delivering  the  mes- 
sage. The  army  therefore  began  its  march 
down  Broadway.  Fortunately  Captain  An- 
thony Colve,  the  commander,  received  on  the 
way  a  proposal  from  Manning  to  surrender  the 
fort  and  garrison  with  the  honors  of  war,  and 
promptly  accepted  it.  The  gates  of  the  fort 
were  opened  to  him,  the  surrender  was  made 


106  NEW  YORK. 

with  colors  flying  and  drums  beating,  a  Dutch 
garrison  was  placed  within  the  walls,  and  the 
ensign  of  the  Dutch  Republic  was  restored  to 
the  flagstaff,  to  float  over  New  Netlierland  re- 
covered by  open  assault  in  time  of  war. 

The  capture  of  New  York  was  made  by  the 
Dutch  fleet  and  forces  without  direct  orders. 
The  attack  was  a  surprise  to  the  local  author- 
ities, although  warning  had  been  received  to 
put  the  fort  in  condition  for  defense.  But  with 
three  fourths  of  the  people  Dutch  in  sympathy 
as  well  as  in  fact,  defense  was  impracticable. 
The  show  of  force  might  have  been  greater  if 
proper  preparations  had  been  taken.  The 
Dutch,  however,  came  in  numbers  and  might 
sufficient  to  make  the  conquest  against  all  that 
the  English  authorities  could  have  done.  They 
yielded  to  a  power  too  great  for  them. 

New  Netherland  was  once  more  the  name  of 
the  colony,  while  the  city  became  New  Orange 
and  the  fort  on  the  bay  was  called  William 
Henr}?-.  The  Dutch  commodores  summoned  a 
council  of  war,  and  designated  Captain  Colve 
as  governor  general.  Six  burghers  were  in- 
vited to  advise  for  the  restoration  of  muni- 
cipal government.  The  commodores  issued  a 
decree  of  confiscation  of  all  English  and  French 
property.  Vessels  were  sent  up  the  river  and 
reduced  Esopus  and  Albany  without  resistance. 


SURRENDER    OF  THE  DUTCH.  107 

Most  of  the  Long  Island  towns  accepted  the 
Dutch  rule  without  delay.  In  New  Jersey  the 
conquest  was  at  once  recognized. 

Governor  Lovelace  received  word  at  New 
Haven  of  the  capture  of  Fort  James,  and  hur- 
ried to  Long  Island  to  defend  his  colony.  He 
talked  a  little  but  did  nothing,  and  soon  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  to  visit  the  fort,  where  he 
was  arrested  for  debt,  his  property  fell  under 
confiscation,  and  he  was  taken  to  Europe  in 
one  of  the  Dutch  vessels.  He  was  charged  with 
being  in  debt  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  on  the 
return  of  the  English  his  estate  was  seized  to 
make  the  account  good.  He  died  in  disgrace 
a  few  years  afterwards. 

When  the  commodores  sailed  away  they  bore 
an  address  from  the  government  which  they 
had  set  up  in  New  Orange,  to  the  States  Gen- 
eral, magnifying  the  attractions  of  the  colony. 
Three  cities  and  thirty  villages  were  prosper- 
ing. With  a  larger  farming  population,  grain 
and  many  necessaries  could  be  produced  for 
Holland,  and  peltries  would  furnish  a  profitable 
trade.  Especially  was  the  port  of  value  as  a 
naval  station  to  guard  against  English  aggres- 
sion. For  all  of  these  reasons  reinforcements 
were  solicited  for  the  Dutch  inhabitants,  who 
now  numbered  six  or  seven  thousand.  The 
address  took  no  account  of  the  inhabitants  of 


108  NEW  YORK. 

Englisli  and  other  nationalities,  at  this  time 
probably  from  three  to  five  thousand  in  various 
parts  of  the  colony.  The  States  General  re- 
ceived the  communication  after  the  decision 
had  been  reached  to  abandon  the  cities  and  vil- 
lages and  farms  and  naval  station  to  the  Eng- 
lish rival. 

Governor  Colve  returned  to  the  policy  of 
Stuyvesant  in  the  provisional  instructions  which 
he  issued  to  the  towns.  In  the  eastern  part  of 
Long  Island  his  authority  was  not  accepted, 
and  Connecticut  sent  agents  to  stir  up  the  dis- 
affected. Massachusetts  seized  a  Dutch  ves- 
sel ;  reprisals  followed  by  the  Dutch.  War  be- 
tween the  colonies  seemed  imminent.  Colve 
ordered  all  strangers  away  and  forbade  the 
entrance  of  any  person  not  bearing  a  passport. 
To  strengthen  the  fortification  he  levied  a  tax 
on  the  estates  of  all  residents  worth  over  a 
thousand  guilders,  and  the  list  showed  more 
than  five  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  guil- 
ders. A  part  of  the  tax  was  demanded  in  ad- 
vance by  way  of  loan.  He  put  the  fort  into 
good  repair  and  mounted  on  it  a  hundred  and 
twenty  guns.  He  was  busy  with  a  soldier's 
care  of  the  colony,  until  October  15, 1674,  when 
orders  came  to  him  to  surrender  New  Nether- 
land  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain. 

The  seizure  of  the  colony  by  the  Duke  of 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  109 

York  had  been  one  of  the  incidents  in  the 
policy  which  arrayed  England  and  Holland  in 
deadly  strife.  For  two  years  the  demand  for 
its  recovery  had  been  pressed  by  the  colonists 
upon  the  Dutch  government  and  was  urged  by 
the  latter  in  negotiations  with  England.  The 
reconquest  by  the  Dutch  was  one  of  the  series 
of  victories  which  in  those  years  gave  glory  to 
the  States  General.  The  necessities  of  Holland 
forced  upon  her  unwelcome  action.  Great 
Britain  and  France  had  formed  an  alliance,  and 
Holland  had  been  driven  to  rely  on  her  old 
enemy,  Spain,  and  on  Germany.  In  her  stress 
Holland  offered  to  yield  New  Netherland  to 
Britain.  The  States  General  were  not  informed 
of  the  reconquest  of  the  colony  when  pledge  was 
given  to  recognize  the  British  title.  William  of 
Orange  was  directing  the  negotiations  which 
resulted  in  such  aggrandizement  of  the  realm 
of  which  he  was  within  a  few  years  to  become 
king.  The  Treaty  of  Westminster  was  signed 
February  19,  1674,  and  all  lands  captured  dur- 
ing the  war  were  restored.  Dutch  rule  on  the 
continent  of  America  was  ended. 

New  York  as  it  was  finally  transferred  to 
British  authority  did  not  contain  twelve  thou- 
sand white  persons.  The  population  reached 
as  far  north  as  the  vicinity  of  Albany,  and 
Schenectady  was  the  remotest   settlement  on 


110  NEW  YORK. 

the  Mohawk.  Settlers  nestled  about  the  Hud- 
son. The  French  had  missionary  stations  at 
various  points  among  the  red  men.  The  pop- 
ulation was  already  varied  in  its  elements. 
Swedes  and  Finns  in  New  Jersey  reached  over 
nearly  to  the  chief  seaport.  Waldenses  and 
Huguenots  had  been  from  the  first  welcome 
settlers.  English  had  come  from  home  directly 
and  through  the  colonies  to  Long  Island  and 
the  eastern  banks  of  the  Hudson.  In  the  list 
still  preserved  of  immigrants  are  found  names 
of  persons  from  various  parts  of  France,  from 
Prussia,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Norway,  Den- 
mark, and  Bohemia.  The  prophecy  of  a  cosmo- 
politan population  was  already  apparent. 

The  Reformed  Church  had  official  recogni- 
tion during  Dutch  rule.  The  Lutherans  were 
subject  to  occasional  annoyances,  but  in  the 
main  were  free  to  worship  in  their  own  way. 
The  Presbyterians  secured  a  strong  footing,  and 
with  the  advent  of  the  new  English  governor 
the  Episcopal  Church  was  planted.  Roman 
Catholics  had  at  this  time  no  settled  pastors 
within  the  recognized  limits  of  the  Dutch  col- 
ony, but  received  occasional  visits  from  their 
missionaries  among  the  Indians,  who  were 
treated  with  marked  courtesy  by  the  governor. 
The  visit  of  Father  Le  Moyne,  in  1658,  led  to 
arrangements  for  trade  with  Canada  as  well  as 


SURRENDER  OF  THE  DUTCH.  Ill 

to  favorable  feelings  toward  the  French  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Iroquois.  Jews  were  not 
allowed  to  serve  as  soldiers  even  under  a  press- 
ing exigency,  but  no  other  disability  seems  to 
have  been  imposed  upon  them.  Charges  of 
witchcraft  were  treated  without  passion,  and 
no  life  was  sacrificed  to  the  superstition.  If 
religious  freedom  was  not  perfectly  asserted  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  that  age  any  other  land 
in  which  closer  approach  was  intelligently  made 
to  that  result. 

The  dominant  influence  except  in  certain 
towns,  chiefly  on  Long  Island,  was  that  of  the 
Dutch.  They  brought  with  them  the  contro- 
versies between  Calvinism  and  Arminianism, 
and  the  forms  and  practices  of  the  home  country. 
The  colonists  took  pains  to  establish  schools 
and  they  maintained  them  in  a  modest  way. 
Unless  Stuyvesant  is  a  slanderer,  fully  one 
fourth  of  the  houses  in  New  Amsterdam  was 
devoted  to  the  sale  of  brandy,  tobacco,  and  beer, 
and  the  regulation  of  them  was  a  source  of 
trouble.  Their  existence  tells  the  story  of  the 
habits  of  the  people.  The  chief  city  was  fol- 
lowed in  this  respect  by  the  villages  and  the 
country.  Hard  drinking  was  not  unusual.  The 
taverns  were  the  places  of  constant  resort,  and 
firewater  was  one  of  the  easy  instruments  of 
trade   with   the  red  men.     Withal  the  piety  of 


112  NEW  YORK. 

rulers  and  people  was  pronounced.  Governor 
Colve  only  illustrated  the  spirit  of  the  colony 
when  he  appointed  the  first  Wednesda)^  of  every 
month  as  a  universal  day  of  thanksgiving  and 
prayer.  In  spite  of  personal  blunders  and 
crimes  the  Dutch  fostered  humane  and  honest 
relations  with  the  Indians,  and  established  a 
friendship  with  the  Iroquois  which,  inherited  by 
the  English,  became  a  safeguard  against  French 
invasions. 

The  fur  trade  brought  red  men  and  white 
men  into  more  close  intercourse  than  was  com- 
mon in  the  other  colonies.  It  tended  somewhat 
to  turn  attention  from  immigration.  For  while 
company  and  governor  and  patroon  and  mer- 
chant sought  profit  from  that  source,  numbers 
were  less  required  than  when  energies  were 
turned  chiefly  to  the  culture  of  the  soil.  For  a 
like  reason,  what  was  wealth  for  those  days  was 
represented  by  a  considerable  body  of  capitalists, 
and  society  had  its  full  share  of  display.  The 
silver  ornaments  on  the  wooden  leg  of  Governor 
Stuyvesant,  and  the  "  coach  and  three  "  which 
Governor  Colve  felt  called  upon  to  set  up,  not 
only  reflect  the  character  of  the  men,  but  their 
estimate  of  the  taste  of  the  inhabitants.  But 
the  governor's  carriage  was  alone  in  its  glory 
for  no  little  time. 

The  struggle  for  a  share  in  the   government 


SURRENDER   OF  THE  DUTCH.  113 

by  the  settlers  began  early,  and  was  kept  up 
during  the  wliole  period  of  Dutch  rule.  The 
West  India  Company  could  arrogate  no  claim  of 
divine  right,  for  all  men  knew  it  was  a  simple 
organization  for  making  money.  It  commanded 
no  veneration,  and  the  governors  were  regarded 
as  mere  individuals,  often  not  so  wise  or  so 
brave  as  the  settlers.  The  home  government 
was  a  republic  during  its  whole  control  of 
New  Netherland. 

The  Dutch  settlers  brought  with  them  man- 
ners, style  of  dress,  furniture,  habits  of  life. 
In  a  colony  so  remote,  manners  and  habits  were 
somewhat  relaxed.  Dress  and  furniture  were  in 
large  part  free  from  the  raids  of  fashion.  In  an 
engraving  in  the  "Description  of  New  Nether- 
land" by  Arnoldus  Montanus,  of  the  date  of 
1671,  New  Amsterdam  appears  with  its  fort  and 
its  church,  not  far  from  the  bay.  The  houses 
stand  with  their  sharp  gables  to  the  street; 
not  a  few  of  them  have  two  stories  besides  the 
angle  close  to  the  roof.  Some  of  only  one  story 
are  situated  below  the  fort.  The  town  runs 
off  from  the  river  upon  the  creeks  and  ponds 
which  were  then  frequent  on  the  lower  part  of 
the  island.  The  cold  climate  called  into  re- 
quisition wliatever  clothing  one  possessed,  and 
the  manifold  petticoats  and  trousers  which  have 
aroused  ridicule  contributed  to  comfort  during 


114  NEW  YORK. 

the  long  winters.  The  taverns  added  the  at- 
tractions of  the  American  weed,  tobacco,  to  the 
liquor  and  beer  familiar  at  home,  and  the  pipe 
adapted  itself  to  the  phlegmatic  nature  of  the 
Dutchmen.  Market  days  were  a  convenience 
for  a  population  widely  scattered.  The  Ker- 
mess,  a  sort  of  fair,  brought  this  population  to- 
gether for  a  succession  of  holidays.  Church 
festivals  were  observed  with  zeal  and  with 
peculiar  practices,  as  memories  of  Paas  and 
Pinxter  and  the  jollities  of  Christmas  testify, 
and  St.  Nicholas,  the  Santa  Claus  of  the  chil- 
dren, has  come  down  to  us  as  the  patron  saint 
of  the  colony.  The  new  year  was  celebrated 
by  social  calls  on  neighbors,  a  sign  of  comity 
and  good  will,  which,  while  sometimes  abused, 
has  spread  into  other  parts  of  the  country. 
The  commonwealth  retains  the  impress  of 
many  of  the  peculiarities  of  its  early  settlers. 
If  it  has  shown  less  state  pride  than  some  of  its 
sisters,  the  reason  may  be  found  in  part  in  the 
passing  away  of  the  language  used  during  the 
first  sixty  years  of  its  life,  and  in  the  diverse 
elements  which  from  the  beginning  entered  into 
its  composition. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ATTEMPT   OF  THE   SWEDES. 

1626-1656. 

The  Dutch  claimed  all  the  territory  south  as 
well  as  east  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  the  South 
River  as  well  as  the  Fresh  River  are  accounted 
in  the  early  annals  as  no  less  included  in  New 
Netherland  than  the  Hudson  River.  These 
claims  were  challenged  at  an  early  day  by  the 
English  on  pretense  of  earlier  discovery,  and  by 
the  Swedes  because  the  land  was  open  and  un- 
occupied. Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden  was 
led  in  1626  to  organize  a  company  for  trade 
and  emigration  to  this  coast,  but  his  death  pre- 
vented the  impress  of  his  genius  and  energy 
upon  the  enterprise.  Queen  Christina  and  her 
great  minister  Oxenstiern  took  up  the  project 
twelve  years  later.  The  matter  was  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  Swedish  government  by 
Usselinx,  the  projector  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company,  who  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  the  people  of  Holland;  and  it  was  Peter 
Minuit,  the  dismissed  director  of  New  Nether- 


116  NEW  YORK. 

land,  who  led  the  movement  for  New  Sweden. 
In  1638  a  man-of-wMr  and  a  tender  were  placed 
at  his  service,  and  with  about  fifty  Swedes, 
mostly  convicts,  he  sailed,  and  landed  at  James- 
town, Virginia.  In  April  he  took  up  a  posi- 
tion on  the  South  River,  now  the  Delaware,  and 
begun  to  trade  for  furs  with  the  Indians.  Di- 
rector Kieft  served  a  protest  on  the  part  of  the 
Dutch,  but  it  was  disregarded,  and  Swedish  ves- 
sels sailed  with  cargoes  of  tobacco,  while  a  gar- 
rison was  established  in  a  fort  called  Fort  Chris- 
tina. The  Swedes  from  this  point  entered  into 
competition  for  furs  in  trade  with  the  red  men. 
They  were  not  prosperous  and  were  ready  to 
abandon  the  post,  when  accessions  came  in  1640 
from  the  home  country,  with  fresh  supplies, 
and  as  deputy  governor,  Peter  Hollandaer. 
Thus  strengthened,  they  bought  lands  of  the 
Indians,  and  asserted  a  claim  to  a  tract  extend- 
ing thirty  German  miles  along  the  sea,  and  in- 
land ''  as  much  of  the  country  as  they  chose  to 
take.'*  The  colony  grew  to  such  importance 
that  John  Printz,  a  lieutenant  colonel  of  cav- 
alry, was  sent  out  in  1642  as  governor,  with 
orders  for  developing  industry  and  trade.  He 
took  pains  to  command  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
although  the  Dutch  had  established  Fort  Nas- 
sau  on  its  eastern  bank,  and  the  Swedish  settle- 
ments were  on  the  western  bank  exclusivelv. 


THE  ATTEMPT   OF  THE  SWEDES.  117 

Collisions  arose  between  the  Dutch  and  the 
Swedes,  and  when  the  former  put  up  the  arms 
of  the  States  General  on  the  completion  of  a 
purchase  of  lands  from  the  Indians,  Printz  in 
a  passion  ordered  them  to  be  torn  down.  The 
Swedes  gained  in  strength  while  the  Dutch  lost 
ground  in  the  vicinity. 

In  1646  the  Dutch  attempted  to  build  a 
trading  post  on  the  Schuylkill,  when  they  were 
repulsed  by  force  by  the  Swedes.  Individuals 
seeking  to  erect  houses  were  treated  in  the  same 
way.  The  Swedes  in  turn  set  up  a  stockade 
on  the  disputed  ground. 

Director  Stuyvesant  found  it  necessary  in 
1651  to  go  to  confer  with  Printz  with  a  view  to 
holding  the  country  against  the  aggressive  Eng- 
lish. The  Indians  were  called  into  council  and 
confirmed  the  Dutch  title,  allowing  the  Swedes 
little  more  than  the  site  of  Fort  Christina. 
Fort  Casimir  was  erected  lower  down  the  river, 
to  protect  Dutch  interests.  The  two  rulers 
agreed  to  be  friends  and  allies,  and  so  contin- 
ued for  three  years. 

The  distress  of  the  Swedish  colony  led  to 
appeals  for  aid  from  the  home  country  whither 
Governor  Printz  had  returned.  In  1654  help 
was  given,  and  a  new  governor,  John  Claude 
Rysingh,  marked  his  coming  by  the  capture 
of   Fort  Casimir,  pretending   that   the  Dutch 


118  NEW  YORK. 

West  India  Company  authorized  the  act.  The 
only  revenge  the  Dutch  could  take  was  the 
seizure  of  a  Swedish  vessel  which  by  mistake 
ran  into  Manhattan  Bay.  But  the  next  year 
orders  came  from  Holland  exposing  the  fraud 
of  Rysingh  and  directing  the  expulsion  of  the 
Swedes  from  the  South  River.  A  fleet  was 
organized  and  Director  Stuyvesant  recovered 
Fort  Casimir  without  firing  a  gun.  After  some 
parley  Fort  Christina  was  also  surrendered. 
Such  Swedes  as  would  not  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Dutch  authorities  were  sent  to 
the  home  country.  Only  twenty  persons  ac- 
cepted the  oath,  and  of  three  clergymen  two 
were  expelled,  and  the  third  escaped  like  treat- 
ment by  the  sudden  outbreak  of  Indian  troubles. 

In  1656  the  States  General  and  Sweden 
made  these  transactions  matter  of  international 
discussion.  The  Swedes  presented  a  protest 
against  the  action  of  the  Dutch,  and  it  was 
talked  over,  but  the  matter  was  finally  dropped. 
In  the  same  year  the  West  India  Company  sold 
its  interests  on  the  South  River  to  the  city  of 
Amsterdam,  and  the  colony  of  New  Amstel  was 
erected,  so  that  the  authority  of  New  Nether- 
land  was  extinguished. 

After  New  Amsterdam  was  seized  by  the 
Duke  of  York  an  expedition  was  sent  under 
Robert  Carr  to  reduce  the  settlements  on  the 


THE  ATTEMPT  OF  THE  SWEDES.  119 

Delaware.  The  Swedes  welcomed  his  arrival. 
The  Dutch  resisted  ;  but  while  three  of  their 
garrison  were  killed  and  ten  wounded,  the 
assailants  suffered  no  injury.  John  Carr,  a 
lieutenant,  and  son  of  the  commander,  seized 
the  captured  property,  sent  the  Dutch  soldiers 
to  Virginia  to  be  sold  as  slaves,  and  set  himself 
up  as  governor.  He  was  after  a  while  forced 
to  recognize  Governor  McoUs  as  superior,  but 
he  was  left  in  command. 

The  Duke  of  York's  concessions  to  Berkeley 
and  Carteret  led  to  a  separate  government.  On 
the  conquest  of  New  York  by  the  Dutch,  the 
original  claims  of  New  Netherland  to  the  south- 
ward were  again  asserted,  and  were  not  con- 
tested. A  government  was  established  on  the 
Delaware  with  Schout  Alrichs  as  its  head,  re- 
porting to  Governor  Colve. 

The  surrender  of  New  Netherland  carried 
with  it  the  settlements  down  to  CapeHenlopen. 
But  the  Duke  of  York's  gift  to  Berkeley  and 
Carteret  reduced  the  fair  proportions  of  the 
province  which  bore  his  name,  and  established 
its  boundaries  upon  the  Lower  Hudson  and  the 
waters  of  the  Delaware. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   TOPOGRAPHY  OF  NEW  YOEK. 

The  English  conquest  brought  a  new  name 
to  the  colony,  and  the  Duke  of  York  by  giving 
away  New  Jersey  marked  out  its  bounds  on 
the  south.  The  defeat  of  the  French  in  Canada 
and  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  after  the 
Revolution  were  required  to  fix  the  limits  on 
the  north.  The  domain  when  the  French  first 
came  in  was  the  seat  of  a  powerful  confederacy. 
Champlain's  first  chart,  edition  of  1613,  marks 
the  St.  Lawrence,  with  Quebec  and  Montreal 
the  seats  of  his  authority,  and  locates  the  lake 
to  which  he  gave  his  name  in  fair  relations  to 
them.  The  Lake  of  the  Iroquois  is  not  identi- 
cal in  form  or  situation  with  Lake  Ontario,  but 
stands  for  it.  North  and  west  of  that  lake  is  a 
great  body  of  water,  unnamed,  which  he  de- 
scribes as  measured  by  fifteen  days'  travel  of  the 
canoes  of  the  savages.  The  whole  domain  sur- 
rounding Lake  Champlain,  except  on  the  north- 
east, and  all  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
these  lakes,  indefinitely  westward,  he  defines  as 


THE   TOPOGRAPHY.  121 

the  country  of  the  Yrocois.  The  orthography- 
later  became  Iroquois. 

Champlain's  niap  of  1632  is  more  full  and 
more  extended.  Its  features  for  the  domain 
which  has  become  New  York  are  the  St.  Law- 
rence, Lake  Champlain,  with  a  trend  too  much 
to  the  southwest,  Lake  St.  Louis,  where  now  is 
Lake  Ontario,  extending  westward  into  nar- 
rower proportions,  and  northwestward  a  Mer 
Douce  and  a  Grand  Lac.  He  locates  a  very 
high  waterfall  at  the  west  of  Lake  Ontario. 
The  Hirocois  occupy  the  centre  of  the  domain, 
the  Antouoronons  (the  Senecas)  are  south  of 
the  western  limit  of  the  Ontario,  and  west  of 
them  he  places  the  ''  neutral  nation."  The  only 
French  sign  is  Saintonge,  the  name  of  his  birth- 
place, which  he  gives  to  the  site  of  his  first  bat- 
tle with  the  Iroquois,  but  he  is  careful  to  mark 
no  settlement.  The  Hudson,  Long  Island  and 
its  sound  are  sketched  but  not  named.  South- 
ward and  inland  he  locates  Virginia. 

Its  natural  features  helped  in  great  measure 
to  separate  the  domain  west  of  the  Hudson  and 
south  of  the  lakes  from  the  Plymouth  colony 
on  the  east  and  Virginia  on  the  south.  By  the 
charters  of  both  they  had  a  claim  to  all  this 
territory.  Nature  had  foreordained  that  its 
history  should  be  distinct  and  different.  By 
the  formation  of  its  soil,  the  trend  of  its  moun- 


122  NEW  YORK. 

tains,  by  its  relation  to  the  ocean,  and  by  its 
lakes  and  the  course  of  its  rivers,  its  people 
must  have  peculiar  tasks.  For  they  were  to 
stand  at  the  gateway  of  empire  on  this  conti- 
nent, and  were  to  control  its  earliest  paths. 
Here  were  to  be  the  battlefields  on  which 
were  to  be  determined  the  type  of  the  civiliza- 
tion to  become  dominant  and  the  political  con- 
trol of  the  chief  part  of  the  New  World. 

The  lines  of  discovery  were  prophetic.  The 
French  entered  from  Lake  Champlain.  The 
Dutch  came  up  the  Hudson.  The  Swedes 
challenged  the  southern  border.  The  English 
crowded  in  from  the  east  and  south.  The 
choice  of  Fort  Orange  as  the  original  settle- 
ment and  the  early  advances  along  the  Mohawk 
touched  the  heart  of  the  continent.  The  red 
men  knew,  the  white  men  soon  learned,  that 
from  the  centre  of  the  land  of  the  Iroquois,  the 
rivers  flow  to  all  points  of  the  compass.  The 
head  waters  of  the  Mohawk,  which  pass  through 
the  Hudson  to  the  Atlantic,  interlace  with 
streams  which  sweep  northward  and  join  the 
majestic  St.  Lawrence.  Waters  which  a  stone's 
throw  separate  start  some  for  the  Mohawk,  and 
others,  by  the  Susquehanna,  to  the  far  distant 
Chesapeake.  Within  the  land  of  the  Iroquois 
Champlain  might  have  found  streams  to  con- 
duct him  before  Joliet  or  La  Salle,  by  way  of 


THE   TOPOGRAPHY.  128 

the  Ohio,  down  the  controlling  current  of  the 
Mississippi. 

This  watershed  marks  also  the  mountains 
which  are  the  ribs  of  the  continent.  Across 
from  the  north  of  Lake  Champlain  the  Adiron- 
dack Mountains  run  southward,  sinking  their 
summits  to  the  Catskills,  and  extending  then  to 
the  hills  which  join  the  Alleghanies.  These 
elevations  are  a  part  of  that  continental  system 
of  mountains.  The  Hudson  cleaves  them.  The 
Mohawk  divides  the  hills  which  open  to  make 
a  gateway  for  its  waters.  Minor  rivers  seek 
final  outlet  by  the  St.  Lawrence  at  the  north 
or  by  the  Hudson  at  the  south.  The  Delaware, 
the  Chenango  and  the  Susquehanna,  and  the 
Chemung  flow  southward,  and  the  Alleghany  to 
the  southwest.  The  interior  lakes  all  discharge 
across  the  lines  of  latitude. 

This  conformation  affords  natural  channels 
for  advance  north  toward  the  lake  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  southward  almost  indefinitely. 
The  earliest  and  most  inviting  gateway  west- 
ward has  proved  to  be  by  the  Mohawk  valley. 
The  earlier  French  governors  saw  in  this  do- 
main the  seat  of  empire.  Baron  D'Avaugour 
wrote  in  1663  to  the  minister  Colbert,  "  The 
St.  Lawrence  is  the  entrance  to  what  may  be 
made  the  greatest  State  in  the  world,"  and  he 
urged  the  erection  of  a  strong  fort  where  Al- 


124  NEW  YORK. 

bany  now  stands.  Talon,  a  few  years  later, 
recommended  the  purchase  or  seizure  of  New 
York  with  a  view  to  the  control  of  the  conti- 
nent. These  designs  inspired  the  contests  of 
the  French  against  the  Iroquois  which  followed 
these  natural  lines  and  led  to  the  counter- 
assaults  carried  seven  times  to  the  gates  of 
Montreal.  The  British  advanced  by  the  same 
paths  to  conquer  Canada.  The  royal  attempts 
to  check  the  revolution  of  the  colonies  chose 
the  Champlain  and  the  Hudson  and  the  Mo- 
hawk for  some  of  the  decisive  demonstrations. 
Washington,  in  his  visit  in  1783,  to  the  Mohawk, 
Oneida  Lake,  and  the  sources  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, was  impressed  with  the  "  immense  diffu- 
sion "  of  inland  waters  and  the  facilities  for 
making  intimate  connections  with  other  parts 
of  the  country.  In  1812  British  arms  again 
sought  to  penetrate  the  United  States  by  the 
water-routes  leading  from  Canada  southward. 
A  leader  in  the  rebellion  of  1861  alleged  that 
one  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  Confederacy 
was  due  to  the  flow  of  the  rivers  and  to  their 
open  valleys  leading  from  New  York  to  the 
heart  of  Virginia.  General  Scott,  standing  on 
the  field  of  the  battle  of  Bemus  Heights,  de- 
clared this  Commonwealth  to  hold  the  military 
key  of  the  continent  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  on  the  same  spot  General  Grant  confirmed 
the  judgment. 


THE   TOPOGRAPHY.  125 

In  1721  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Planta- 
tions proposed  to  the  British  crown  to  place  a 
captain  general  in  this  province  on  account  of 
its  commanding  position,  and  to  "  render  the 
several  provinces  from  Nova  Scotia  to  South 
Carolina  "  subject  to  his  orders.  The  sugges- 
tion was  due  not  to  the  population  of  the  prov- 
ince, for  it  was  suialler  than  that  of  others,  but 
solely  to  the  natural  relations  of  New  York  to 
the  British  possessions.  It  was  an  official  rec- 
ognition of  the  geographical  situation. 

To  these  natural  features  must  be  assigned 
the  current  of  migration,  of  trade,  of  growth, 
of  wealth,  and  of  power,  which  has  passed 
through  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  from  the 
Old  World  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  conti- 
nent, first  to  western  New  York,  and  in  due 
order  to  Ohio,  to  the  Northwest,  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  to  the  Pacific,  and  finally  to  Oregon 
and  the  Columbia.  Settlers  in  the  early  days 
went  west  by  the  flatboafcs  on  the  Mohawk,  and 
up  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna,  before  arti- 
ficial channels  multiplied  the  facilities  of  the 
pathways   marked  out  by  nature. 

We  shall  describe  the  domain  which  has 
become  New  York,  in  a  general  way,  if  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  we  draw  a  right-angled 
triangle.  The  perpendicular  will  follow  the 
Hudson  and   Lake  Champlain,  and  our  terri- 


126  NEW  YORK. 

tory  will  extend  eastward  beyond  the  river  so 
as  to  control  both  of  its  banks.  The  base  of 
this  triangle  from  the  Hudson  will  follow 
mountains  to  the  eastern  bend  of  the  Delaware 
and  along  that  river  to  the  forty-third  parallel, 
thence  along  that  parallel  west  to  a  line  bound- 
ing Pennsylvania  and  running  to  the  middle  of 
Lake  Erie.  The  hypo  then  use  Lake  Ontario  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  supply.  A  like  triangle  was 
cut  off  between  the  head  waters  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  and  the  St.  Lawrence  by  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent,  which  drew  a  line  westward  from  the 
sources  of  the  Connecticut  on  the  forty-fifth 
parallel.  New  York,  besides  its  outlying 
islands,  is  such  a  truncated  triangle,  with  the 
Hudson  extending  from  its  main  angle  down 
to  the  sea.  A  more  homely  resemblance  is 
found  in  the  form  of  a  shoe  with  a  long  heel 
resting  at  the  seaport,  broad  toes  touching 
Lake  Erie,  and  a  large  ankle  spreading  along 
the  St.  Lawrence.  The  area  is  47,620  square 
miles,  if  we  measure  to  the  centre  of  the  lakes 
and  rivers  which  make  part  of  its  boundaries, 
and  the  extreme  measurements  are  311§  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  412  miles  from  west 
to  east,  incUiding  Long  Island.  At  the  main 
angle  of  our  triangle  spreads  the  bay  which 
commerce  has  chosen  for  its  chief  seat,  and 
which   receives  and  distributes  its  treasures  in 


THE   TOPOGRAPHY.  127 

large  part  along  the  paths  that  nature  has  pro- 
vided through  the  domain  which  has  become  the 
Empire  State. 

This  domain  could  not  well  be  an  attach- 
ment to  any  other  colony.  It  must  be  itself 
the  source  of  development,  the  centre  of 
growth.  Settlement  was  checked  during  the 
struggles  of  France  and  England,  and  the  bat- 
tles of  the  Revolution,  and  the  movements  of 
troops  kept  the  increase  below  the  rate  of  other 
colonies.  These  were  consequences  due  to  the 
position  and  topography  of  New  York.  As 
soon  as  continental  strife  ceased,  natural  ad- 
vantages drew  settlers  and  developed  resources, 
and  gave  the  reins  to  commerce.  The  map  of 
the  State,  and  especially  its  lakes,  the  course  of 
its  rivers  and  the  trend  of  its  mountains,  are 
the  key  to  its  history. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE. 

The  title  of  the  Empire  State  is  a  modern 
invention.  Yet  at  the  time  the  white  men 
came  into  New  York,  a  confederacy,  which 
boasted  that  it  had  already  existed  six  genera- 
tions, occupied  the  chief  part  of  this  territory 
and  wielded  a  power  imperial  in  its  extent  and 
exercise.  The  aborigines  on  the  h>wer  Hud- 
son and  the  seacoast  consisted  of  several  tribes 
who  gave  no  particular  direction  to  the  current 
of  events.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk 
northward  and  westward  dwelt  a  people  known 
as  the  Five  Nations,  allied  in  a  union  which 
with  their  genius  for  control,  made  them  mas- 
ters over  a  large  part  of  the  continent.  They 
had  at  one  time  lield  full  sway  on  the  north 
shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  Cartier's  time 
one  of  their  tribes  occupied  the  site  of  Quebec. 
Champlain  found  them  on  the  west  shores  of 
the  lake  which  bears  his  name,  and  the  terror 
of  their  arms  introduced  French  warriors  and 
French  missionaries  to  far  western  lakes  and 
rivers. 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE.        129 

They  at  once  became  the  masters  of  the 
trade  in  beaver  skins,  and  were  not  second  to 
any  tribes  in  hunting  and  fishing.  They  were 
hardly  less  noted  for  the  culture  of  tlie  soil  and 
for  the  building  of  cabins  and  defensive  works 
than  for  military  prowess.  The  first  white 
visitor  found  frame  cabins,  and  fields  of  corn 
and  beans,  and  tobacco,  pumpkins,  and  small 
fruit ;  and  thrift  as  well  as  industry  were  proved 
by  the  preservation  of  crops,  which  were  buried 
in  the  winter.  The  Iroquois  had  stone  axes, 
and  chisels,  and  knives,  before  the  whites  gave 
them  metal  implements.  They  produced  pot- 
tery, and  the  specimens  preserved  in  graves 
show  a  rude  skill  and  some  merit  in  design. 
They  fashioned  moccasins  of  deer  skins  and 
shoes  of  the  hide  of  the  elk.  They  tanned 
leather,  they  made  needles  of  bones ;  from  bark 
they  wrought  rope,  baskets,  and  barrels,  and 
graceful  and  useful  canoes.  From  wood  they 
devised  many  implements  which  they  carved 
elaborately.  They  used  armor  of  twigs  and 
hides,  and  their  fortifications  had  a  certain  mili- 
tary strength  even  against  French  arms.  Their 
speech  was  direct  and  vigorous  and  effective, 
and  proves,  as  Max  Miiller  declares,  that  they 
were  powerful  reasoners  and  accurate  classi- 
fiers. By  a  very  full  and  rich  pictorial  lan- 
guage, abounding  in  compounds,  they  recorded 


130  NEW  YORK. 

on  skms  remarl?:able  achievements,  and  some- 
times so  conveyed  messages.  Their  money- 
was  wampum  or  seawant,  strips  of  leather 
adorned  with  shells  from  the  lakes,  and  after- 
wards with  beads.  The  pipe  of  peace  they 
used  as  a  sedative  and  a  symbol. 

They  styled  themselves  Ongwe-Honwe^  men 
surpassing  all  others,  when  they  yielded  to 
their  swelling  oratory.  They  were  also  "  The 
People  of  the  Long  House,"  priding  them- 
selves on  the  domain  they  occupied,  or  quite  as 
likely  on  the  form  of  the  cabins  they  built,  and 
probably  the  phrase  had  reference  to  both. 
Their  orators  were  wont  to  speak  of  the  east- 
ern valley  of  the  Mohawk  as  the  entrance  of 
the  mansion  which  extended  to  the  falls  of 
Niagara,  where  was  the  western  door.  Here 
were  their  castles  and  their  home,  however  far 
they  ranged  in  hunting  or  in  war.  The  French 
called  them  Iroquois,  the  "  men  who  say  iro," 
or  "  I  have  said  Koue^^  a  word  of  approval,  as 
it  is  the  habit  to  explain  the  derivation.  It  is, 
however,  noteworthy  that  one  of  the  earliest 
chiefs  whom  Champlain  met  was  called  Iro- 
quois, although  not  of  this  confederacy,  and  the 
inference  is  fair  that  the  personal  name  existed 
in  other  tribes,  and  was  transferred  by  the 
French  to  the  united  Five  Nations,  or,  indeed^ 
was  applied  by  the  red  men  themselves. 


THE  PEOPLE   OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE.        131 

These  tribes  derived  their  origin  from  a 
divine  source.  Their  traditions  were  various 
and  were  enriched  by  noble  conceptions.  Ac- 
cording to  one  of  them  the  first  of  the  nation 
was  a  celestial  being,  Atotarho,  or  To-do-da-ho, 
whose  hair  was  serpents,  and  whose  name  was 
retained  for  the  chief  of  the  Onondagas.  Hia- 
watha, also  divine,  is  reputed  to  be  the  archi- 
tect of  the  confederacy,  transformed  by  mod- 
ern criticism  into  a  "  lawgiver  of  the  stone 
age."  The  contest  between  these  two  persons 
affords  wide  scope  for  myths.  Hiawatha,  al- 
though an  Onondaga,  found  the  first  response 
to  his  plans  for  union  from  the  Mohawks,  and 
the  support  of  other  tribes  was  won  by  conces- 
sions in  rank  and  power.  Another  tradition 
is  that  Ataentsic,  a  goddess,  accidentally  fell 
from  heaven,  or  was  excluded  for  a  human 
amour.  She  bore  two  children,  the  sun  and 
the  moon,  and,  although  a  Huron,  became  the 
mother  of  these  tribes,  and  with  some  qualities 
of  a  universal  mother  on  earth.  The  higher 
version  recognizes  the  "  holder  of  the  heavens  " 
as  the  master  of  life,  and  in  a  peculiar  sense  the 
god  of  the  Iroquois. 

The  names  of  tribes  as  we  know  them  in 
English  are  formed  from  those  of  the  people 
themselves,  except  the  Senecas  and  the  Mo- 
hawks, who  were  probably  so  styled  by  epithets 


132  NEW  YORK. 

of  dislike.  The  title  Mohawk  was  a  term  of 
terror  and  of  hate  first  applied  to  the  tribe  by 
the  eastern  Indians,  and  to  the  French  it  was 
a  note  of  alarm  while  they  held  sway  in  Mon- 
treal and  Quebec. 

The  Mohawks  lived  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  valley  which  still  bears  their  name,  the 
Oneidas  next  west  in  the  vicinity  of  Oneida 
Lake,  the  Onondagas  in  the  region  of  the  Salt 
Springs,  the  Cayiigas  reaching  to  the  shores  of 
Lake  Ontario,  and  the  Senecas  spreading  to  the 
south  and  west.  The  Tuscaroras,  defeated  in 
North  Carolina,  joined  the  union  in  1715  as  a 
sixth  nation,  and  received  from  the  Oneidas 
lands  between  the  latter  and  the  Onondagas. 
The  Senecas  were  the  most  numerous,  with 
as  many  as  twelve  hundred  fighting  men, 
wliile  the  other  four  tribes  could  together  mus- 
ter hardly  so  many.  The  total  population  of 
the  confederacy  after  white  men  came  to  know 
them  did  not  exceed  twelve  thousand  souls. 
One  of  the  remarkable  facts  of  history  is,  that, 
scattered  as  they  have  been,  with  all  the  vicis- 
situdes of  exclusion  and  the  flood  of  a  new  civ- 
ilization, an  equal  number  of  representatives  of 
these  tribes  exists  to-day.  The  records  of  the 
Interior  Department  in  Washington  contain 
the  demonstration. 

American   research  among  the  traditions  of 


THE  PEOPLE   OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE.       133 

our  original  tribes  does  not  discover,  the  annals 
of  mankind  do  not  afford  on  the  same  grade  of 
general  civilization,  any  parallel  to  the  political 
system  which  existed  among  the  Iroquois  as  a 
confederacy,  or  among  the  tribes  composing  it. 
Within  the  tribes  were  clans,  sometimes  seven 
or  eight,  distinguished  by  names  of  animals,  as 
the  Tortoise,  the  Bear,  and  the  Wolf,  and  organ- 
ization was  close  and  complete.  These  people 
lived  in  castles  which  were  towns,  with  homes 
and  their  appendages.  Fifty  sachems  were  ap- 
portioned, not  according  to  population,  but  by 
arbitrary  rule :  nine  each  to  the  Mohawks  and 
Oneidas,  fourteen  to  the  Onondagas,  ten  to  the 
Cayugas,  and  eight  to  the  Senecas.  These  con- 
stituted the  national  council,  and  the  succes- 
sion was  by  inheritance  on  the  female  side, 
with  apparently  a  right  of  choice  by  the  wo- 
men among  their  heirs.  The  name  descended 
with  the  office.  Next  to  the  sachems  were 
chiefs,  elected  by  their  tribes,  and  distinguished 
achievements  at  once  gave  access  to  this  rank. 
All  old  men  and  all  warriors  exercised  an  advi- 
sory part  in  affairs,  and  the  women  held  meet- 
ings in  which  their  will  found  utterance  and 
it  was  formally  communicated  to  the  chiefs  and 
sachems.  In  matters  of  property  and  especially 
of  land  their  voice  was  potent. 

It  would  appear  thus  that  councils  were  held 


134  NEW  YORK. 

of  various  grades,  rising  by  degrees  to  those  of 
tlie  sachems.  They  were  all  conducted  with 
dignity  and  decorum.  The  resemblance  to 
town  meetings  and  to  modern  legislatures  is  not 
a  mere  fancy.  These  councils  were  held  in  the 
several  tribes,  and  when  exigency  arose,  a  con- 
gress of  the  union  was  summoned  by  runners 
bearing  belts  of  wampum.  All  decisions  re- 
quired a  unanimous  vote.  Deliberation  and 
debate  were  employed  to  secure  this  result.  If 
at  last  all  did  not  approve,  the  project  proposed 
was  abandoned. 

Such  institutions  were  the  school  of  freedom 
and  of  loyalty.  They  developed  intellectual 
activity  and  force,  and  created  a  confederacy 
remarkable  in  its  elements  and  notable  for  its 
duration.  It  stood  the  strain  of  contact  with 
the  invading  whites,  and  fostered  a  military 
prowess  of  which  the  proofs  are  simply  wonder- 
ful. The  supremacy  of  the  Iroquois  was  recog- 
nized by  the  red  men  of  New  England.  They 
collected  taxes  from  those  who  lived  on  Long 
Island.  In  1608  John  Smith  met  a  war  party 
of  them  on  the  Chesapeake.  In  1663,  Sir 
Thomas  Temple,  governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  sent 
a  remonstrance  to  Fort  Orange,  to  ask  that  the 
Mohawks  might  be  restrained  from  waging 
war  on  the  Indians  within  his  jurisdiction. 
The  fear  of  the  Iroquois  rested  on  the  tribes 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE.       135 

about  Montreal  and  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  they  roamed  in  battle  to  the  far  south  and 
west.  When  they  bought  arms  of  the  Dutch 
and  French,  in  exchange  for  peltries,  they  car- 
ried terror  before  them.  The  upper  lakes  were 
the  scene  of  their  conquests.  They  drove  the 
Hurons  and  the  Ottawas  to  the  head-waters  of 
the  Mississippi.  They  became  masters  along 
the  Illinois,  the  lower  Ohio,  and  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  Champlain  suffered  defeat 
at  their  hands.  Tracy  exhausted  his  resources 
in  an  invasion  of  their  domain  in  which  they 
foreshadowed  the  tactics  of  the  Russians  before 
Napoleon.  They  held  their  territory  against 
French  power,  and  became  the  shield  of  Eng- 
lish civilization  on  this  continent. 

Peter  Schuyler  in  1710  took  five  of  their 
sachems  to  England  with  him,  with  a  view  to 
impress  Queen  Anne  and  her  ministers  with  the 
importance  of  their  alliance.  Great  show  was 
made  of  them,  and  an  address  was  presented 
by  them  urging  the  conquest  of  Canada,  be- 
cause they  had  been  a  "  strong  wall  "  against 
the  French,  and  now  the  reduction  of  that  power 
was  "  of  great  weight  to  their  free  hunting." 
The  "  Tatler  "  and  the  "  Spectator  "  spoke  of 
these  visitors  as  "  Indian  kings,"  and  the  spark- 
ling essayists  adorned  their  productions  with 
references  to  the  "  Emperor  of  the  Mohocks." 


136  NEW  YORK. 

The  "kings"  were  accepted  as  typical  of  the 
most  formidable  of  the  red  men  of  America. 

Gouverneur  Morris  was  wont  to  relate  an  in- 
cident received  by  him  from  an  eye-witness, 
illustrating  the  estimate  which  that  statesman 
had  formed  of  the  red  men,  whom  he  knew  well. 
The  Long  Island  Indians,  according  to  the 
narrative,  had  neglected  to  pay  tribute  to  the 
Iroquois  for  several  years,  about  1760,  and  had 
sold  some  land  without  their  leave.  One  even- 
ing a  Mohawk  warrior  in  full  dress  appeared  on 
Long  Island,  and  stated  that  he  had  a  message 
from  the  Six  Nations  to  present  to  the  tribe 
at  a  council  in  the  morning.  At  the  council, 
standing  alone,  he  asked  why  the  tribute  had 
not  been  paid,  why  the  land  had  been  sold,  and 
who  first  signed  the  deed.  An  old  chief  con- 
fessed that  he  was  the  first  signer.  As  the 
words  passed  his  lips  the  Mohawk  split  his  head 
with  a  tomahawk.  Then  without  let  or  hin- 
drance he  left  the  paralyzed  council  and  went 
safely  home.  Such  audacity  and  such  sover- 
eignty by  a  single  chief,  in  a  hostile  tribe,  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  his  castle,  epito- 
mize the  power  and  eminence  of  the  Iroquois. 

They  believed  in  a  great  spirit  and  in  im- 
mortality in  happy  hunting  grounds.  In  their 
"  keepers  of  the  faith,"  a  priestly  order  may  be 
discerned,  and  in  their   festivals  and   form  of 


THE  PEOPLE   OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE.       137 

burial  are  ceie monies  not  without  sacrificial  and 
spiritual  significance.  Their  religion  lifts  them 
above  brute  barbarism  to  a  semi-civilization 
which  separates  them  from  the  tribes  surround- 
ing them.  They  respected  woman  and  hon- 
ored matrimony,  and  inheritance  was  from  the 
female.  Chivalry  did  not  accord  her  so  much 
as  did  these  red  men,  for  they  gave  her  a  part 
in  their  councils  and  their  governments,  and 
made  her  voice  potent  in  the  choice  of  chiefs. 
The  family  was  a  sacred  institution,  and  chil- 
dren were  caref  idly  trained.  For  the  aged  high 
regard  was  exhibited,  and  the  rites  of  hospi- 
tality were  honored  with  chivalric  strictness. 
In  the  passions  of  war  the  Iroquois  tortured 
prisoners  at  the  stake  with  terrible  inhumanity. 
They  were  sometimes  cannibals,  but  they  often 
spared  their  captives  and  adopted  them  into 
the  families  of  their  chiefs,  with  a  method  of 
generous  naturalization.  They  even  merged 
tribes  defeated  in  battle  into  their  own  system, 
and  thus,  as  the  Romans  were  wont  to  do,  ex- 
tended their  sway  and  strengthened  their  force 
for  future  warfare. 

They  were  natural  diplomatists.  The  Dutch, 
in  1617,  established  a  firm  and  lasting  treaty 
with  them,  and  relied  upon  the  Mohawks,  as  the 
readiest  agents  for  adjusting  difficulties  arising 
with  the  tribes  on  the  islands  and  the  lower 


138  NEW  YORK. 

Hudson.  The  French  found  the  Five  Nations 
all  adepts  in  negotiation.  Neither  by  arms  nor 
by  treaty  could  the  successive  governors  secure 
a  permanent  foothold  in  the  country  of  the 
Iroquois.  These  red  men  regarded  ambassa- 
dors as  peculiarly  entitled  to  honor  and  pro- 
tection, and  to  compacts  once  formed  they 
were  quite  as  faithful  as  modern  nations  are 
v^ont  to  be. 

The  chronicles  of  French  intercourse  with 
the  Iroquois  exhibit  in  strong  light  the  cour- 
age, the  audacity,  the  independence  and  pa- 
triotism of  these  red  men.  They  never  ceased 
to  defy  and  challenge  French  power,  however 
they  might  at  intervals  seek  to  gain  time  and 
advantage  by  negotiation ;  and  when  Canada 
fell  into  British  hands  the  result  was  due  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  checks  put  by  Iroquois 
arms  on  the  broad  and  aggressive  policy  of  the 
governors  sent  out  from  Paris,  and  of  the  min- 
isters and  sovereigns  who  directed  them. 

The  French  writers  learned  to  know  the 
character  of  these  heroes  of  the  forest.  Charle- 
voix saw  them  as  early  as  1706,  and  testifies 
"  these  Americans  are  perfectly  convinced  that 
man  is  born  free,  and  that  no  power  on  earth 
has  any  right  to  restrict  his  libert}^  while  noth- 
ing can  make  up  for  its  loss."  La  Potherie 
declares  in  his  book,  published  in  1722,  that 


THE  PEOPLE   OF  THE   LONG  HOUSE.       139 

''  their  union  worked  like  a  clock "  from  the 
marvelous  adjustment  of  its  parts.  The  Jesuit 
Lafitau  represents  their  "  senate  "  —  a  title  per- 
haps too  formal  —  as  "  discussing  affairs  of  state 
with  as  much  coolness  and  gravity  as  the  Span- 
ish junta  or  the  grand  council  of  Venice."  The 
Dutch  always  found  them  good  neighbors  and 
trustworthy  friends. 

Oratory  bore  an  important  part  in  the  life 
of  the  Iroquois.  In  their  councils  they  prac- 
ticed it,  drawing  figures  from  the  phenomena 
of  nature,  and  retaining  after  long  intercourse 
with  the  whites  a  rhetoric  original  and  unique. 
In  negotiations  the  oration  was  a  leading  feat- 
ure. Charlevoix  testifies  that  Joncaire,  a  Sen- 
eca, "  spoke  with  all  the  .^vivacity  of  a  French- 
man and  the  sublime  eloquence  of  an  Iroquois." 
Jefferson  "challenged  the  whole  orations  of 
Demosthenes  and  Cicero  and  of  any  more  emi- 
nent orator  of  Europe,  if  Europe  has  furnished 
more  eminent,  to  produce  a  single  passage  su- 
perior to  the  speech  of  Logan,"  who  was 
descended  from  the  Cayugas.  DeWitt  Clinton 
declares  it  to  be  "impossible  to  find  in  all 
the  effusions  of  ancient  or  modern  oratory  a 
speech  more  appropriate  and  convincing  "  than 
an  argument  made  by  Garangula,  a  chief  of  the 
Onondagas.  Living  men  testify  to  the  marvel- 
ous eloquence  of  the  Seneca,  Red  Jacket,  who 
died  in  1830. 


140  NEW  YORK. 

By  such  qualities  the  Iroquois  not  only  won 
but  held  supremacy  over  the  red  men  of  the 
continent.  Not  a  tribe  could  successfully  dis- 
pute their  might  in  battle.  The  settlers  in 
Maryland  framed  a  treaty  with  them  for  the 
protection  of  their  own  borders.  The  governors 
of  Virginia,  beginning  in  1679,  more  than  once 
deemed  it  vital  to  enter  into  negotiations  with 
tliem.  In  1689  Massachusetts  found  it  neces- 
sary to  frame  a  treaty  with  these  redoubtable 
tribes,  and  both  that  colony  and  Connecticut 
appealed  to  them  for  aid  in  their  expedition 
against  Canada.  In  1753  the  governor  of  South 
Carolina  besought  Governor  Clinton  of  New 
York  to  make  peace  between  the  Iroquois  and 
the  Creeks,  to  check  French  schemes  in  the 
southern  colony. 

From  Hudson's  Bay  and  Lake  Superior  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake,  from  the  Penob- 
scot to  the  Kentucky  and  Savannah  rivers, 
and  one  author  says  even  to  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien,  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  Indian  nations  recognized  the  domination 
of  the  Iroquois.  The  French  failing  to  conquer 
them  vied  with  the  British  in  seeking  their 
alliance.  They  supported  the  British  govern- 
ment in  general  policy,  and  gave  it  strong  help 
in  the  Revolution.  At  Fort  Duquesne  Washing- 
ton appealed  to  the  Six    Nations    because    he 


THE  PEOPLE   OF  THE  LONG   HOUSE.        141 

was  fighting  for  their  rights  to  territory.  Brit- 
ain always  recognized  their  title  to  the  domain 
south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  1755  the  Lords 
Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations  au- 
thorized a  map  of  the  colonies  in  America,  by 
Mitchell,  and  it  fixes  the  extent  of  the  Iroquois 
dominion  at  that  day,  as  claimed  by  the  Eng- 
lish, and  practically  recognized  by  the  French, 
in  their  negotiations  with  each  other.  The 
southern  boundary  runs  from  the  Atlantic 
through  the  middle  of  North  Carolina  to  the 
Mississippi,  np  that  stream  to  the  Illinois, 
thence  through  Lake  Michigan  to  the  north  of 
the  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  and  eastward  to  the 
Ottawa  River,  and  thence  to  Montreal,  the 
Sorel,  and  the  Hudson.  The  map  states  that 
the  southern  portion  of  this  domain  was  yielded 
to  the  crown  in  1729. 

In  the  controversy  which  arose  between  the 
British  and  French  over  the  territory  along 
the  Ohio  and  southward,  the  British  claim  al- 
ways rested  on  the  title  derived  from  the  Six 
Nations.  To  a  memorial  in  behalf  of  France, 
made  by  the  Duke  de  Mirepoix,  May  14,  1755, 
response  was  published  in  the  French  language 
on  the  part  of  the  British  ministry,  and  prom- 
inence is  given  to  a  memorial  of  the  Earl  of 
Albemarle,  of  March  7,  1752,  in  which  he  de- 
clared that  "the  court  of  Great  Britain   asserts 


142  NEW  YORK. 

and  insists  that  the  five  Iroquois  nations,  ac- 
knowledged by  France  to  be  the  subjects  of 
Great  Britain,  are  either  originally  or  by  con- 
quest the  lawful  proprietors  of  the  territory  of 
Ohio." 

Virginia  by  treaty  defined  its  boundaries 
with  the  Iroquois,  and  Pennsylvania  secured  a 
cession  of  its  soil  from  them,  while  Connecticut 
people  bought  of  them  large  tracts  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna River.  To  all  that  remained  New 
York  attained  by  purchase  and  fair  negotiation 
the  right  of  eminent  domain. 

In  the  Iroquois  confederacy  the  Mohawks 
were  the  "  true  heads,"  as  they  were  recog- 
nized by  the  treaty  of  1768  at  Fort  Stanwix. 
Their  castles  were  nearest  to  the  whites,  and 
they  became  first  known  and  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  earliest  fighting.  The  Oneidas  were  in- 
clined to  moderate  counsels,  the  conservatives 
of  the  union.  The  Onondagas  became  the 
most  affected  by  French  influences.  The  Sene- 
cas  probably  were  most  apt  in  tilling  the  soil. 
The  Six  Nations,  except  a  share  of  the  Onei- 
das, were  led  by  Sir  William  Johnson  to  the 
British  side  in  the  Revolution,  fighting  at  Oris- 
kany  and  under  Burgoyne,  and  liarassing  the 
settlers  until  cruelly  crushed  in  the  Sullivan 
campaign  of  1779.  Some  of  them  appeared 
under  the  British  flag  in  1812  during  the  oper- 
ations in  New  York. 


THE  PEOPLE   OF   THE  LONG  HOUSE.       I43 

The  domination  of  the  Iroquois  over  the  red 
men  was  due  in  part  to  the  natural  avenues  \ 
which  they  possessed  for  making  swift  inroads 
in  every  direction,  assured  to  them  by  the 
topography  of  their  country.  Their  imperial 
domain  helped  to  make  them  what  they  were. 
They  had  qualities  of  sagacity,  courage,  organ- 
ization, eloquence,  which  were  not  elsewhere 
found  when  Europeans  entered  the  continent. 
They  had  farms  and  homes  and  towns  and  a 
political  system.  They  had  medicine  men  and  a 
sort  of  religion  with  sacrifices.  Without  courts, 
justice  was  regarded,  and  the  chiefs  and  councils 
supervised  the  exercise  of  personal  adjustment 
and  vengeance.  Their  character  and  their 
military  strength  were  important  elements  in 
determining  the  'settlement  and  development  of 
the  commonwealth  which  grew  up  in  their 
Long  House. 


CHAPTER   X. 

FEENCH   MISSIONARIES  AND  FRENCH  ARMS. 

1640-1671. 

French  rights  derived  from  the  discoveries 
of  Champlain  extended  to  the  sources  of  the 
waters  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  They 
covered,  therefore,  all  of  northern  New  York. 
No  effort  was  made  by  the  French  to  occupy 
this  domain,  until  the  attacks  of  the  Iroquois 
compelled  retaliation.  The  forethought  of  mis- 
sionaries and  adventurers  reached  further  west. 
Even  relio^ious  zeal  was  directed  into  the  coun- 
try  soutli  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Onta- 
rio chiefly  by  the  fate  of  war. 

The  French  used  those  waters  as  a  pathway 
to  the  West.  As  early  as  1640  fierce  enemies 
were  threatening  them.  Montmagny,  governor 
of  Canada,  to  hold  the  L^oquois  in  check,  built 
a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sorel  River.  It  was 
part  of  a  broad  policy  conceived  by  one  whose 
name  translated —  Onontio,  Big  Mountain  — 
the  red  men  applied  to  his  successors,  and  in- 
deed to  the  French  power.  His  establishment 
of  such  an  advanced  post  was  none  too  soon. 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        145 

Two  Frenchmen  captured  by  the  Iroquois  in 
1641  were  taken  as  interpreters  to  Montmagny, 
by  a  large  company  of  the  red  men  asking  for  a 
treaty.  The  French  commander  haughtily  re- 
jected the  proffered  terms,  which  excluded  the 
Indian  allies  of  France,  and  the  captives,  in- 
stead of  heralds  of  peace,  became  the  ministers 
of  hitensifying  relations  already  hostile.  They 
notified  the  French  that  the  Five  Nations  would 
soon  be  on  the  war-path,  and  would  especially 
seek  to  destroy  the  other  tribes  and  put  an  end 
to  French  alliance  and  intercourse  with  them. 

Twelve  canoes  were  on  the  Lake  of  St.  Peter 
in  the  St.  Lawrence,  August  3,  1642,  on  their 
return  to  the  Hurons.  The  company  consisted 
of  Huron  boatmen  and  converts,  with  three 
Frenchmen  engaged  in  missionary  work.  Two 
were  lay  assistants,  Rene  Goupil  and  Guil- 
laume  Couture.  The  third  was  Isaac  Jogues, 
a  Jesuit,  an  accomplished  scholar,  an  adven- 
turous traveler  devoted  to  French  interests, 
but  above  all,  a  zealous  apostle  of  Christ. 
Upon  this  peaceful  fleet  suddenly  dashed  a 
force  of  Iroquois  in  canoes,  and  bearing  arms. 
The  show  of  defense  was  brief,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  panic.  Jogues  escaped  for  the 
moment,  but  speedily  returned  to  his  captured 
companions.  Couture  in  fleeing  was  caught, 
but  killed  a  pursuer.     A  Huron  maiden,  Teresa 


146  NEW  YORK. 

Oiouhaton,  was  among  the  prisoners,  and  be- 
coming the  wife  of  a  Mohawk,  long  preserved 
the  reputation  of  saintly  virtues.  The  three 
Frenchmen  were  beaten,  their  finger-nails  were 
torn  off  by  the  teeth  of  their  captors.  The 
conquerors  led  their  victims  away  by  the  Sorel 
River  and  Lake  Cham  plain.  Near  the  south 
end  of  that  lake,  a  band  of  Iroquois  warriors 
was  met  advancing  for  fight  in  Canada.  The 
captives  were  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet 
between  two  rows  of  savages  beating  and  bruis- 
ing them,  and  Jogues  received  the  decoration 
of  the  worst  treatment.  Proceeding  to  the 
south  and  west,  in  thirteen  days  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  the  company  reached  a  palisaded 
town  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk  River.  On 
their  arrival  here  the  captives  were  driven  be- 
tween a  double  line  of  the  people,  who  beat 
them  with  rods,  amid  wild  yells  and  screeches. 
Jogues  was  knocked  down,  but  arose  and  stag- 
gered on ;  his  thumb  and  that  of  Goupil  were 
cut  off.  At  night  they  were  bound  to  stakes, 
and  the  children  cast  live  coal  and  hot  ashes 
upon  their  naked  bodies.  They  were  led  for 
seven  days  to  the  second  and  third  Mohawk 
towns,  and  back  and  forth,  and  the  tortures 
were  repeated.  Goupil  was  struck  in  the  head 
with  a  tomahawk  and  released  from  his  suffer- 
ings, September  29,  and  the  dogs  feasted  on 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        147 

his  body.  Couture  for  his  bravery  in  defend- 
ing himself  was  adopted  into  the  tribe.  Jogues 
was  compelled  to  serve  the  Indians,  and  sought 
to  teach  them  the  Gospel.  In  the  forest  he  re- 
peated his  prayers  and  carved  the  cross  and  the 
name  of  Jesus  on  the  bark  of  the  trees.  He 
saw  Huron  captives  brought  in  by  war  parties, 
and  burned,  and  their  flesh  eaten  by  the  con- 
querors. The  next  year  he  accompanied  a 
party  to  Fort  Orange,  and  made  an  effort  to 
escape.  His  effort  was  a  failure,  but  he  was 
befriended  by  Rev.  Johannes  Megapolensis,  the 
Dutch  minister,  and  finally  ransomed  by  his 
Dutch  benefactors,  and  was  invited  to  Man- 
hattan, where  Governor  Kieft  welcomed  him, 
and  enabled  him  to  return  to  Europe.  The 
Pope  by  special  dispensation  restored  to  him, 
crippled  by  his  sufferings,  the  privilege  of  say- 
ing mass,  forbidden  to  any  person  having 
physical  deformity.  He  returned  to  Canada  in 
1644,  and  in  May,  1646,  he  was  sent  to  the 
Mohawks  where  Couture  was  residing,  on  a 
mission  of  peace,  and  carried  back  to  Quebec 
responses  fairly  satisfactory.  September  27, 
he  set  out  on  his  final  tour  to  the  tribe  to 
found  the  "  Mission  of  the  Martyrs."  On  his 
previous  visit  he  had  left  a  box,  which  the  red 
men  were  induced  to  believe  contained  a  sor- 
cerer's evil  charms.     On  that  suspicion  a  war 


148  NEW  YORK. 

party  met  the  brave  priest,  who  had  a  single 
French  companion.  The  warriors  seized  them, 
and  cut  strips  of  flesh  from  the  back  of  Jogues, 
taunting  him  with  threats  of  death  on  the 
morrow.  Invited  to  a  feast  on  that  day,  he 
was  struck  with  a  hatchet  and  fell  dead.  His 
companion  was  also  killed,  and  the  bodies  of 
botli  were  thrown  into  the  Mohawk,  and  their 
heads  placed  on  palisades.  The  date  of  their 
martyrdom  was  October  18, 1646,  and  the  scene 
has  been  definitely  located  near  the  present  vil- 
lage of  Auriesville.  His  murderer  was  identi- 
fied among  prisoners  taken  by  the  French,  and 
he  was  burned  to  death  at  the  Sillery  Mission. 
This  was  the  manner  of  the  advent  of  the  first 
missionary  among  the  Iroquois,  and  he  proved 
that  he  had  many  of  the  virtues  of  a  true 
martyr. 

Joseph  Bressani,  also  a  Jesuit,  was  the  sec- 
ond missionary,  and  his  experience  of  captivity 
was  not  dissimilar.  He  was  captured  April  29, 
1644,  by  one  of  the  many  war  parties  of  Iro- 
quois then  ravaging  the  country  down  the  St. 
Lawrence.  He  was  on  his  way  as  a  missionary 
to  the  Hurons,  and  his  party  in  three  canoes 
was  captured  on  the  river.  The  captives  were 
taken  by  the  route  of  Lake  Champlain  to  the 
upper  Hudson.  There  was  a  camp  of  four  hun- 
dred Iroquois,  and  Bressani  was  given  over  to 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        149 

torture  by  the  children,  after  the  men  were 
weary.  He  was  stripped  naked,  his  nails  and 
the  joints  of  liis  fingers  were  burned  off  one  by 
one ;  he  was  hung  in  chains  by  the  feet,  and  the 
dogs  were  set  to  lacerate  him.  In  June  he  was 
sent  to  Fort  Orange,  to  be  sold  to  the  Dutch, 
who  in  their  humanity  ransomed  him,  and  he 
was  enabled  to  go  to  Europe.  He  returned 
and  afterwards  labored  with  zeal  among  the 
Hurons. 

Father  Joseph  Poucet  repeated  the  same 
experience  of  captivity.  In  August,  1653,  he 
was  seized  at  Three  Rivers  and  by  the  same 
route  taken  a  captive  to  the  Mohawk  castles. 
Threatened  with  torture  he  was  saved  by  adop- 
tion into  an  Indian  family.  He  was  taken  to 
Fort  Orange  and  his  wounds  healed.  After 
administering  religious  rites  to  two  Catholics 
resident  there,  he  returned  to  the  Mohawks, 
who  gave  him  up  to  the  French  authorities  in 
November  of  the  same  year. 

These  three  missionaries  brought  by  force 
into  the  laud  of  the  Iroquois  took  back,  and 
Jogues  sent  back  in  writing,  information  con- 
cerning the  red  men,  their  surroundings,  and 
their  plans.  The  Iroquois  had  for  years  har- 
ried the  French  in  Canada,  and  fear  of  them 
was  on  priest  and  soldier.  Father  Vimont  at 
the  beginning  of  their  many  victorious  raids 


150  NEW  YORK. 

declared :  "  I  had  as  lief  be  beset  by  goblins 
as  by  the  Iroquois.  The  one  is  about  as  in- 
visible as  the  other.  Our  people  on  the  Riche- 
lieu and  at  Montreal  are  kept  by  them  in  a 
closer  confinement  than  were  ever  monks  or 
nuns  in  our  smallest  convents  in  France.'* 
The  Mohawks  were  the  leaders  in  the  assaults 
on  the  French,  often  the  only  members  of  the 
war  parties  which  tinged  the  St.  Lawrence  with 
blood.  In  1653,  a  peace  was  made  by  the 
French  with  them,  and  the  recovery  of  Father 
Poucet  was  made  a  condition  by  De  Lauzon, 
the  French  commander. 

In  response  to  a  request  from  the  Onondagas 
for  a  Jesuit  father  to  live  with  them,  and  for 
help  to  build  a  fort,  Simon  Le  Moyne  was  sent 
in  July,  1653,  as  a  missionary  with  the  deputa- 
tion that  presented  the  invitation.  He  was 
first  of  white  men  to  observe  the  Salt  Springs 
which  to  this  day  have  been  a  source  of  wealth 
to  the  Onondaga  country.  The  Indians  had 
told  the  French  of  these  springs,  but  they  at- 
tracted no  notice  until  Le  Moyne  tested  them 
and  made  them  known.  The  Mohawks  were 
only  a  few  months  later  than  the  Onondagas 
in  asking  for  a  missionary,  and  were  annoyed 
that  a  rival  tribe  had  been  first  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  they  were  promised  a  share  in  the 
labors  of  Le  Moyne.     He  was  with  the  Onon- 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        151 

dagas  when  in  1655  the  Iroquois  engaged  in 
the  war  with  the  Erie  tribe  which  resulted  in 
its  practical  annihilation.  In  the  autumn  of 
that  year  two  other  Jesuit  missionaries  came 
to  the  Onondagas  by  the  way  of  Lake  Ontario. 
They  were  Joseph  Chaumonot  and  Claude  Da- 
blon.  The  preaching  of  the  former  roused  the 
red  men  to  shout  under  the  lead  of  their  chief : 
"  Glad  tidings !  Glad  tidings  !  "  A  chapel  of 
bark  was  built  in  a  single  day,  and  a  site  for  a 
permanent  French  settlement  was  chosen  at  the 
Salt  Springs.  In  1656,  Father  Le  Mercier 
brought  a  colony  of  fifty  Frenchmen  and  five 
additional  missionaries.  Under  the  lead  of 
Sieur  Dupuys  they  reached  their  destination 
July  12,  and  five  pieces  of  cannon  announced 
their  arrival.  A  redoubt  was  built  on  an  emi- 
nence overlooking  the  lake,  then  called  Genen- 
taha,  and  cabins  soon  provided  shelter.  The 
Mohawks  disliked  the  lead  taken  by  the  Onon- 
dagas, but  the  other  tribes  of  the  great  con- 
federacy welcomed  the  missionaries  who  went 
forth  to  give  instruction  in  the  faith. 

Alarms  came  quick  and  fast  upon  the  adven- 
turous French  colonists.  The  Iroquois  pre- 
pared for  war  parties.  Dupuys  heard  of  plots 
for  exterminating  his  little  company.  He  ar- 
ranged* a  feast  for  the  Onondagas,  and  in  the 
midst  of  their  revelry  he  led  his  fellow-colonists 


152  NEW  YORK. 

through  the  floating  ice  of  March,  and  took 
them  safely  back  to  Canada.  The  abandon- 
ment was  complete.  In  1661,  Father  Le  Moyne 
returned  to  the  scene,  and  sought  to  reestablish 
a  mission.  The  Mohawks  did  not  forget  the 
repulse  which  they  had  received  years  before, 
but  Senecas  and  Cayugas  joined  with  the  Onon- 
dagas  to  greet  the  missionary.  The  winter  did 
not  bring  sufficient  promise  of  encouragement, 
and  Father  Le  Moyne  gave  up  the  field  in  the 
succeeding  spring,  taking  with  him  to  Canada 
prisoners  released  by  the  three  western  tribes 
of  the  confederacy. 

The  Oneidas  and  Mohawks  kept  up  their 
forays  even  to  the  gates  of  Montreah  In  1663, 
the  French  governor,  D'Avaugour,  asked  the 
home  authorities  for  three  thousand  troops  to 
destroy  the  Iroquois,  and  urged  the  building  of 
forts  on  the  Sorel  and  upper  Hudson  to  keep 
open  communication  by  that  route.  The  Jesuit 
missionaries  pleaded  that  the  sale  of  liquor  to 
the  red  men  was  one  cause  of  their  violence. 
Quarrels  arose  between  successive  governors  and 
the  priests  over  the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued 
with  the  red  men.  In  1665,  the  French  king 
gave  instructions  to  treat  the  Five  Nations  as 
"  perpetual  and  irreconcilable  enemies,"  and  to 
carry  war  ''even  to  their  firesides  in  order  to- 
tally to  exterminate  them."    A  thousand  French 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        153 

veterans  of  the  Carignan  regiment  were  trans- 
ferred from  fighting  Turks  in  Hungary  to  per- 
form this  task  of  extermination,  and  with  them 
came  large  accessions  to  the  Canadian  colony. 
The  Marquis  de  Tracy  entered  upon  his  duties 
as  viceroy  by  rebuilding  a  fort  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Sorel,  and  by  erecting  Fort  Chambly 
on  the  rapids  of  that  name,  and  Fort  Ste. 
Therese,  still  nearer  to  Lake  Champlain,  and 
soon  after  Fort  La  Motte,  on  an  island  in  the 
lake.  These  demonstrations  and  the  persua- 
sions of  the  Onondagas,  led  by  their  chief,  Gara- 
kontie,  brought  all  the  Iroquois,  except  the 
Mohawks,  to  Quebec,  to  frame  a  treaty  by 
which  the  French  king  was  recognized  as  their 
protector,  and  the  tribes  were  styled  his  vassals 
and  allies.  The  French  were  to  be  welcomed 
into  the  land  of  the  Iroquois,  and  immigrants 
from  the  red  men  were  to  have  farms  assigned 
to  them  in  Canada.  The  Mohawks  who  had 
no  part  in  the  treaty  were  to  be  dealt  with  by 
force.  General  Courcelles,  in  January,  1666, 
led  an  expedition  of  five  hundred  men  by  way 
of  Lake  Champlain,  and  came  near  Schenec- 
tady, February  19.  By  an  ambuscade  several 
were  killed  and  wounded  by  the  Mohawks,  who 
bore  the  heads  of  four  Frenchmen  as  trophies. 
Courcelles  soon  heard  from  Albany  that  he  was 
invading  a  colony  no  longer  Dutch,  but  now 


154  NEW  YORK. 

under  English  rule,  and  lie  hastened  to  retrace 
bis  steps.  The  Mohawks  annoyed  him  on  his  re- 
treat, and  picked  off  prisoners  from  his  discour- 
aged column.  The  authorities  at  Albany  gave 
tender  care  to  wounded  Frenchmen  left  with 
them,  and  so  wrought  upon  the  Mohawks  that 
messages  were  sent  to  Quebec  that  this  fierce 
tribe  desired  peace.  Steps  were  taken  for  nego- 
tiating a  treaty,  by  which  missionaries  were  to 
be  sent  to  them.  The  peace  was  interrupted 
by  one  of  those  incidents  which  sometimes  turn 
the  course  of  history.  The  Mohawks  fell  upon 
a  French  hunting  party  from  Fort  La  Motte, 
slew  Sieur  de  Chazy,  a  nephew  of  the  viceroy, 
and  took  several  captives.  To  avenge  the  out- 
rage, Sorel,  the  commander  of  the  fort,  started 
with  three  hundred  men  towards  the  Mohawk 
country.  The  red  men  went  out  to  meet  him 
with  their  captives  and  new  promises  of  peace. 
The  prisoners  were  sent  on  to  Quebec,  where 
soon  appeared  Agariata,  a  Mohawk  chief,  to 
help  f lame  a  treaty.  This  chief  boasted  that 
his  was  the  arm  that  broke  the  head  of  Chazy. 
Viceroy  Tracy  ordered  him  hanged  at  once,  and 
a  half-breed  who  was  of  his  party  was  put  in 
prison.  It  became  certain  the  Mohawks  could 
never  be  allies  of  France. 

The  other  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  kept  up  a 
close  intimacy  by  embassies  to  Quebec.     Jesuit 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        155 

fathers  continued  to  go  to  them  at  their  re- 
quest. Tracy  proposed  to  wreak  terrible  ven- 
geance on  the  Mohawks.  An  expedition  of  six 
hundred  men  from  the  Carignan  regiment,  a 
like  number  of  militia,  and  a  hundred  Hurons 
and  Algon quins  advanced,  September,  1666,  by- 
way of  Lake  Champlain.  It  was  a  formidable 
force  with  its  abundant  small  arms  and  two 
pieces  of  artillery.  Tracy  himself  was  the  com- 
mander, and  was  accompanied  by  Courcelles. 
The  cunning  Mohawks  withdrew  before  the 
invaders.  The  latter  had  expected  to  get  abun- 
dant corn,  but  for  a  wliile  they  were  compelled 
to  be  content  with  the  ripening  chestnuts.  On 
further  advance  corn  was  discovered  buried  in 
the  earth.  At  the  ft)urth  village  the  Mohawks 
delivered  a  heavy  fire  before  they  dispersed  into 
the  forests.  The  French  captured  only  one 
man  and  two  women,  too  infirm  to  be  moved, 
and  found  the  remains  of  some  prisoners. 
Tracy  took  formal  possession  of  the  country  in 
the  name  of  the  King  of  France.  The  wealth 
of  the  tribe  is  indicated  by  the  boast  of  the 
French  that  they  destroyed  on  the  expedition 
grain  enough  to  sustain  their  whole  colony  for 
two  years. 

This  destruction  w^as  the  real  result  of  so 
great  an  expedition  led  by  the  two  chief  officers 
of  New  France,     Tlie  Mohawks  were  sheltered 


156  NUW  YORK. 

by  the  forests,  as  the  French  army  v/ithdrew 
before  the  severities  of  October.  In  the  next 
year,  as  Tracy  was  ordered  to  report  for  service 
in  France,  Courcelles  became  governor  general, 
and  received  instructions  from  the  minister, 
Colbert,  in  Paris,  to  march  again  against  the 
Mohawks,  "  for  the  purpose  of  utterly  destroy- 
ing them  if  possible."  That  tribe  was  inclined 
to  temporize,  and  accepted  a  treaty  of  peace. 
Missionaries  were  assigned  to  the  Mohawks,  as 
well  as  to  the  other  tribes,  and  among  the  six 
who  started  in  July,  1667,  was  Father  Jacques 
Bruyas,  whose  fame  as  a  scholar  is  only  sec- 
ond to  that  of  his  zeal  as  a  teacher  among  the 
Oneidas.  They  took  the  route  now  so  familiar 
to  the  French,  over  Lake  Champlain.  They 
were  well  received  at  Caughnawaga,  where 
Jogues  had  suffered,  at  Kanagaro,  and  at  the 
Mohawk  capital,  Tionnontoguen,  where  they 
were  received  with  a  fusillade  of  joy.  With 
impressive  religious  solemnities,  Father  Fremin, 
September  14,  1667,  confirmed  peace  between 
the  tribe  and  the  French,  and  established  the 
"  Mission  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Mohawks,"  on  the 
site  of  the  ''  Mission  of  the  Martyrs."  Father 
Bruyas  went  westward  to  set  up  a  mission  among 
the  Oneidas,  —  that  of  St.  Francis  Xavier.  The 
work  of  the  Church  was  extended  among  the 
Onondagas,  the  Cayugas,  and  the  Senecas,  and 


FRENCH  MJS810NARIES  AND   ARMS,        157 

a  colony  of  the  Cayugas  on  the  Bay  of  Quints 
in  Canada.  When  the  Mohawks  went  out  to 
battle  with  the  Mohicans,  a  priest  accompa- 
nied the  war-paity  to  invoke  the  divine  blessing 
on  each  step  of  the  bloody  enterprise. 

The  era  of  marvelous  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  Catholic  missionaries,  who  combined  the 
work  of  explorers  with  their  religious  tasks, was 
well  begun.  Stations  were  occupied  among  the 
Iroquois  tribes  by  priests  devoted  to  their  faith 
and  to  French  aggrandizement.  Their  lanks 
were  now  recruited  by  one  of  the  most  far- 
sighted  and  daring  of  them  all,  who  combined 
with  the  old  dreams  of  discovering  a  waterway 
to  China  a  grand  grasp  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  West  and  Southwest.  Rene  Robert  Cavelier 
La  Salle  was  a  Jesuit,  with  rare  capacity  for 
affairs,  with  unswerving  courage,  and  peculiar 
gifts  for  dealing  with  the  red  men,  who  gave  up 
all  to  become  an  enthusiast  in  exploration.  He 
was  destined  to  perish  miserably  by  the  hands  of 
his  companions  in  the  far  Southwest,  after  a  ca- 
reer which  has  left  its  marks  on  the  heart  of  the 
continent.  His  connection  with  the  interior  of 
New  York  was  incidental  to  his  plans  for  his 
advance  over  the  continent  toward  the  far  dis- 
tant East.  He  came  from  France  in  1667,  and 
devoted  himself  for  two  years  to  study  and  prep- 
aration,  and  his  zeal  for  the  plans  which  he 


158  NEW  YORK. 

was  developing  has  left  the  name  of  La  Chine 
at  the  spot  where  he  dwelt.  In  1669  he  took 
with  him  certain  fathers  from  the  Quinte  mis- 
sions, and  started  westward  by  water.  He 
sought  among  the  Senecas  for  a  guide  to  lead 
him  in  his  explorations.  They  did  not  tell  him 
of  the  route  by  the  way  of  the  Ohio  to  the 
Southwest,  which  the>;  well  knew.  If  he  had 
then  learned  of  the  flow  of  the  rivers  and  the 
easy  passage  to  the  Mississippi,  it  is  conceivable 
that  the  French  power  might  have  been  seated 
there  too  securely  for  easy  interruption,  and  a 
movement  by  that  flank  might  have  shut  in  the 
Iroquois  to  its  control.  But  he  was  sent  by  the 
Senecas  to  the  north  by  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 
La  Salle  took  possession  for  King  Louis  of  the 
country  to  the  south  as  well  as  the  north  and 
west  of  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie. 

Louis  XIV.  was  looking  not  only  wistfully 
but  hopefully  to  all  this  domain.  The  mission- 
aries were  sending  encouraging  reports  from  the 
field  of  their  labors  among  the  Iroquois.  The 
signs  of  change  among  the  Mohawks  might  well 
arouse  the  hopes  of  the  devoted  missionaries. 
The  Oneidas  did  not  come  so  readily  under  reli- 
gious influences.  The  work  among  the  Onon- 
dagas  received  an  impetus  by  the  baptism  of 
the  chief,  Garakontie,  who  took  the  name  of 
Daniel.     The   mingling  of  political  with  reli- 


FRENCH  MISSIONARIES  AND  ARMS.        159 

gioiis  purposes  is  expressed  by  the  eulogy  upon 
this  convert,  that  he  was  "  the  protector  of  the 
French  crown  in  this  country." 

In  France  the  suggestion  was  considered,  of 
attempting  to  secure  from  England  and  Holland 
the  cession  of  the  whole  of  New  Netherland. 
Talon,  the  intendant  of  Canada,  urged  that  thus 
the  French  would  have  two  entrances  to  their 
American  possessions,  and  would  control  in 
trade  all  the  peltries  of  the  North.  More  than 
once,  also,  the  Canadian  authorities  entertained 
the  purpose  of  seizing  Fort  Orange,  and  after- 
wards Manhattan.  An  expedition  made  by 
Governor  Courcelles  in  1671  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence, at  great  cost  and  with  much  display, 
alarmed  the  English  at  New  York  quite  as  much 
as  the  Iroquois,  for  effect  upon  whom  it  was 
designed.  But  Charles  11.  threw  himself  into 
an  alliance  with  France,  and  the  form  of  the 
danger  was  changed. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  EXPLOITS   OF  FEONTENAO. 

1672-1698. 

The  new  danger  was  embodied  in  the  person 
and  the  plans  of  Count  Frontenac,  who  in  1672 
became  governor  of  Canada,  in  many  respects 
the  foremost  of  all  the  French  representatives 
that  colony  ever  received.  He  brought  with 
him  a  reputation  earned  on  Italian  battlefields, 
and  the  honor  of  a  designation  by  the  great 
Turenne  to  lead  the  Venetian  armies  in  Candia. 
He  was  fifty-two  years  of  age,  and  had  ex- 
hausted his  fortune  and  his  credit,  and  he,  or,  as 
the  chronicles  show,  his  wife,  had  wrecked  his 
domestic  relations.  His  plans  for  the  govern- 
ment of  Canada  were  broad  and  liberal,  and  his 
schemes  for  the  extension  of  his  jurisdiction  to 
the  southward  were  large  and  statesmanlike. 
He  found  in  La  Salle  a  co-laborer  ready  to 
suggest  ideas  and  to  carry  out  comprehensive 
plans.  His  first  step  was  an  expedition  to  Lake 
Ontario,  and  the  construction  on  the  north  side, 
where  Kingston  now  stands,  of  a  fort,  to  which 


THE    EXPLOITS   OF  FRONTENAC  161 

he  gave  his  own  name.  This  fort  was  meant 
to  serve  as  a  centre  of  operations  against  the 
Iroquois,  but  no  less  of  trade  with  them.  La 
Salle  was  placed  in  charge,  and  it  was  alleged 
that  the  governor  and  his  ally  were  seeking 
personal  profit  quite  as  much  as  the  building 
up  of  New  France.  But  the  visit  of  Frontenac 
and  the  erection  of  the  fort  and  the  influences 
which  emanated  from  it  were  followed  by  ten 
years  of  greater  quiet  than  the  French  were 
accustomed  to  enjoy  with  the  red  men.  Fron- 
tenac won  favor  with  the  Iroquois  in  an  assem- 
bly which  he  invited  when  he  was  beginning  his 
enterprise,  where  he  addressed  them  as  "  chil- 
dren," and  therefore  entitled  to  help,  instead  of 
"brothers,"  as  the  practice  had  prevailed  before 
his  time.  It  may  have  been  only  the  expression 
of  his  own  personal  arrogance,  but  the  red  men 
liked  the  phiase  and  adopted  its  author  as  a 
favorite.  He  was  less  fortunate  in  maintaining 
harmony  with  the  Jesuits  and  the  ofiicial  circle 
in  Montreal  and  Quebec.  He  charged  the  Jes- 
uits with  '^  thinking  more  of  beaver  skins  than 
of  souls,"  and  denounced  their  missions  as 
"  mockeries."  In  return  they  alleged  that  he 
was  making  profit  out  of  his  govei-norship,  and 
sought  to  hold  a  monopoly  of  trade  in  his  hands. 
To  secular  eyes,  it  must  be  confessed,  the  com- 
petition in  trade  between  the  Jesuits  on  the  one 


162  NEW  YORK. 

hand  with  their  allies,  and  Frontenac  and  La 
Salle  on  the  other,  was  very  sharp.  The  Jes- 
uits, in  addition,  charged  the  governor  with  de- 
bauching the  red  men  by  the  sale  of  liquors. 

The  quarrel  resulted  in  the  recall  of  Frontenac 
to  France  in  1682.  He  impressed  his  views  rel- 
ative to  Canadian  affairs  on  the  French  court, 
but  was  left  in  poverty  in  Paris  for  seven 
years,  when  the  exigencies  of  the  colony  sum- 
moned him  again  to  Quebec.  But  those  seven 
years  bad  proved  fatal  to  French  control  among 
the  Iroquois.  Some  new  characters  had  ap- 
peared on  the  scene.  Father  Louis  Hennepin, 
a  Recollet  f liar,  afterwards  noted  as  an  author 
on  American  topics,  made  a  winter  excursion 
overland  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  land  of  the 
Onondagas,  Oneidas,  and  Mohawks  in  1677,  and 
in  the  succeeding  year  he,  with  Father  La  Motte, 
was  for  a  while  among  the  Senecas.  La  Salle 
built  a  fort  at  Niagara,  and  in  his  labors  there 
and  on  the  western  borders,  he  was  aided  by 
Henri  de  Tonty,  an  Italian  of  courage  and  the 
sort  of  skill  necessary  in  a  wild  country.  At 
Cayuga  Creek,  on  the  south  side  of  Niagara 
River  just  above  the  falls,  they  built  a  vessel 
for  use  in  their  western  explorations.  It  was 
called  the  Griffin,  and  was  lost  in  Lake  Michi- 
gan with  a  cargo  of  furs  on  a  return  voyage. 

Since  they   had  obtained  fire-arms  the  Iro- 


THE  EXPLOITS    OF  FRONTENAC  163 

quois  had  been  pressing  hard  upon  their  neigh- 
bors. They  had  in  1680  crushed  out  the  tribe 
adjacent  to  them  on  the  south,  the  Andastes, 
as  they  had  before  made  an  end  of  the  Eries, 
who  lived  just  west  of  them.  The  profits  of 
the  fur  trade  induced  them  to  extend  their 
forays  farther  and  farther,  and  this  reason  is 
alone  sufficient  to  explain  their  appearance 
among  the  Illinois  and  the  Hurons,  without 
accepting  the  French  stories  that  they  were 
urged  to  this  course  by  the  English  and  Dutch 
traders.  That  charge  has  no  more  truth  than 
the  other,  that  the  Jesuits  incited  the  Iroquois 
to  make  forays  on  the  settlements  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia. 

Governor  De  La  Barre,  who  came  in  when 
Frontenac  was  displaced,  found  that  the  Iro- 
quois were  threatening  the  Illinois  with  de- 
struction, but  as  La  Salle  controlled  the  French 
interest  among  the  latter,  the  governor  left  them 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  foes.  When 
he  sent  a  band  out  to  the  Illinois  country 
for  his  own  purposes,  it  was  attacked  by  the 
Iroquois,  and  he  began  in  earnest  preparations 
for  an  expedition  which  he  had  long  boasted 
over.  He  gave  notice  of  his  purpose  to  Gov- 
ernor Dongan  of  New  York,  who  was  not  slow 
in  letting  the  red  men  have  the  information. 
La  Barre's  own  intendant  wrote  to  the  minis- 


164  NEW  YORK. 

try  at  home  that  he  was  entering  upon  the 
war  for  personal  gain.  The  French  governor 
pressed  forward  with  bis  expedition,  and  gath- 
ered his  forces  at  Fort  Frontenac.  Disease 
fell  upon  them,  but  they  crossed  the  lake  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Salmon  River,  where  the 
name  of  La  Famine  serves  to  tell  of  the  evil 
which  came  to  aggravate  their  fever.  This 
was  in  September,  1684.  Through  the  efforts 
of  the  Jesuits  a  council  was  arranged  with  the 
Onondagas.  La  Barre  told  the  Indian  depu- 
ties that  he  came  to  smoke  the  calumet  of 
peace,  if  all  the  Five  Nations  would  give  indem- 
nity for  past  wrongs  and  pledges  of  good  be- 
havior. Garangula  responded  with  audacious 
eloquence :  *'  We  are  born  free ;  we  depend 
neither  upon  Onontio  nor  Corlaer,"  —  neither 
on  the  French  nor  the  English.  La  Barre 
was  glad  to  make  the  best  peace  he  could. 
The  expedition  had  proved  an  utter  failure, 
and  King  Louis,  when  he  heard  of  the  treaty 
agreed  upon,  pronounced  it  disgraceful  to  the 
French.  It  was  time  for  La  Barre  to  yield 
place  to  a  successor.  He  came  in  the  person 
of  the  Marquis  Denonville,  who  was  not  quite 
so  bombastic,  but  was  little  more  successful 
than  his  predecessor.  He  charged  the  English 
with  furnishing  arms  to  the  Iroquois,  and  felt 
justified  in  resorting  to  all  sorts  of  intrigues  to 


THE  EXPLOITS   OF  FRONTENAC.  165 

counteract  such  influence.  Sharp  correspond- 
ence arose  between  him  and  the  governor  of 
New  York  over  Fort  Niagara,  the  sale  of  liquor 
to  the  Indians,  and  over  the  attempt  on  both 
sides  to  control  trade  at  the  West.  Governor 
Dongan  urged  the  first  claim  of  entire  mastery 
of  the  country  south  of  Lake  Ontario,  June  20, 
1687,  saying :  "I  hope  your  Excellency  will  be 
so  kind  as  not  to  desire  or  seek  any  correspond- 
ence with  our  Indians  on  this  side  of  the  Gre^t 
Lake ;  if  they  do  amiss  to  any  of  your  govern- 
ment, and  you  make  it  known  to  me,  you  shall 
have  all  justice  done."  The  Iroquois,  for  the 
first  time,  began  to  style  the  governor  of  New 
York  "  Father  Corlaer  "  instead  .  of  Brother 
Corlaer,  thus  recognizing  English  protection. 

Denonville  felt  that  French  power  was  de- 
stroyed in  the  Iroquois  country  unless  a  demon- 
stration could  be  made  to  restore  lost  prestige. 
With  a  barbarity  which  no  savages  could  sur- 
pass, as  soon  as  he  reached  Fort  Frontenac  on 
his  advance,  he  bound  a  number  of  Iroquois  to 
posts  for  torture,  and  then  sent  fifty  to  France 
as  prisoners,  according  to  special  orders  from 
King  Louis.  These  were  in  part  peaceable 
members  of  colonies  on  the  north  side  of  the 
lake,  and  had  been  entrapped  on  pretense  of  a 
feast,  and  they  were  in  part  ambassadors  from 
the  tribes  to  treat  for  peace.     This  was  the 


166  NEW  YORK. 

first  use  Denonville  made  of  his  force  of  two 
thousand  men,  which  included  regulars  of  the 
army  of  France.  The  Onondagas  received  word 
of  this  treatment  of  their  brethren,  and  the 
missionary  Lamberville,  who  was  living  among 
them,  expected  to  suffer  in  retaliation.  The 
chiefs,  however,  sent  him  to  the  French,  under 
an  escort  to  guard  him  from  possible  assault. 

So  French  missions  among  the  Iroquois  were 
finally  closed,  through  cruel  treachery  on  the 
side  of  the  Canadian  governor  and  with  a  sub- 
lime act  of  humanity  on  the  side  of  the  Onon- 
dagas. 

Denonville  moved  forward  to  Irondequoit 
Bay  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake.  There  he 
was  met  by  a  thousand  allies  from  the  western 
tribes,  led  by  Tonty  and  by  La  Durantaye,  who 
brought  with  them  two  trading  parties  of  Eng- 
lish, Dutch,  and  Indians  captured  on  the  upper 
lakes.  The  Senecas,  from  their  village  near  the 
present  site  of  Victor,  drew  the  French  advance 
into  an  ambuscade,  and  threw  it  into  disor- 
der. They  supposed  it  was  the  main  body 
of  invaders,  and  they  in  turn  suffered  bloody 
punishment.  The  panic  into  which  the  French 
were  thrown  at  the  outset  was  checked,  and 
the  Senecas  resorted  to  the  usual  tactics  of 
the  red  men  of  retiring  into  the  forests.  They 
took  their  wounded  and  most  of  their  dead  with 


THE  EXPLOITS   OF  FRONTENAC.  167 

them.  The  French  loss  was  reported  at  five 
or  six  killed  and  about  twenty  wounded,  while 
the  Senecas,  it  was  claimed,  lost  forty  killed 
and  sixty  wounded.  The  villages  and  provis- 
ions of  the  Senecas  were  destroyed,  but  Denon- 
ville  retired  to  Irondequoit.  These  events  oc- 
cupied twelve  days,  from  July  12  to  July  24, 
1687.  The  achievement  was  not  one  of  which 
such  an  army  could  be  proud.  The  record  of 
deaths  does  not  indicate  very  effective  warfare 
on  the  part  of  the  invaders.  The  French  gov- 
ernor was  glad  to  get  to  Niagara  and  devote 
himself  there  to  the  building  of  the  fort,  and  in 
the  next  year  disasters  rushed  so  thick  and  fast 
that  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  that  strong- 
hold. 

Denonville's  expedition  became  the  text  of 
communications  with  the  governor  of  New  York, 
and  of  appeals  to  King  Louis  for  more  soldiers 
for  Canada  and  for  strengthening  the  forts 
on  the  border.  The  Canadian  rulers  strongly 
urged  the  acquisition  of  New  York,  which 
"  would  render  His  Majesty  master  of  all 
North  America."  The  device  of  a  treaty  of 
neutrality  had  failed  to  preserve  peace  on  the 
borders,  and  both  parties  were  charged,  and 
truly  too,  with  gross  acts  of  violation.  The 
question  of  jurisdiction  over  the  Iroquois  was 
sharply  contested  between  James  and  Louis  in 


168  NEW  YORK. 

the  old  countries,  as  well  as  between  the  gov- 
ernors of  New  York  and  Canada. 

The  Iroquois,  meanwhile,  asserted  their  inde- 
pendence of  both  powers,  and  six  hundred  war- 
riors, headed  by  Grand  Guele,  marched  against 
Montreal.  The  chief  warned  Onontio  of  his 
danger,  and  told  him  that  he  could  escape  by 
accepting  peace  on  the  terms  proposed  by  Cor- 
laer.  The  French  governor  bowed  to  the  ne- 
cessity and  a  truce  was  agreed  upon,  and  the 
chiefs  sent  to  France  as  captives  were  returned. 
Before  Denonville  gave  up  the  government  he 
saw  another  war-party  ravaging  Canada  almost 
to  Montreal,  and  bewailed  the  capture  of  Fort 
Frontenac  by  the  Iroquois. 

The  Stuarts  had  been  driven  from  the  Eng- 
lish throne,  and  the  accession  of  William  broke 
the  close  connections  which  had  existed  with 
France.  Count  Frontenac  was  sent  back  as 
governor  of  Canada  with  instructions  to  ar- 
range for  a  simultaneous  attack  on  the  English 
colonies  at  Hudson's  Bay  and  in  New  York. 
He  was  welcomed  as  "  the  Kedeemer  of  Can- 
ada," which  was  surely  in  need  of  help.  His 
efforts  were  directed  to  restoring  his  old  rela- 
tions of  friendship  with  the  red  men.  The 
authorities  of  New  York  strove  to  check  his 
plans.  Eighty  Iroquois  sachems  met  at  Onon- 
daga in  council  to  consider  the  rival  proposi- 


THE  EXPLOITS   OF  FRONTENAC.  169 

tions.  Millet,  a  French  priest  naturalized 
among  the  Oneidas,  held  that  tribe  and  the 
Cayugas  from  the  alliance  with  New  York 
in  which  the  Mohawks,  the  Onondagas,  and 
the  Senecas  joined.  Fronteoac  was  equal  to 
the  emergency.  He  threw  three  expeditions 
against  the  English  colonies :  one  by  way  of 
Three  Rivers  against  the  settlements  between 
Albany  and  Boston,  a  second  from  Quebec 
against  Maine,  while  the  third  advanced  from 
Montreal  against  New  York.  This  third  col- 
umn included  eighty  of  the  praying  Indians 
from  Caughnawaga,  under  the  Mohawk  chief 
Kryn,  with  other  red  men,  and  a  body  of  Cana- 
dian bush-rangers.  They  marched  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1690,  and  directed  their  assault  against 
Schenectady.  The  town  was  without  watch  or 
preparation,  although  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
palisade  and  had  a  small  fort.  The  inhabi- 
tants were  asleep  when  the  invaders  fell  upon 
them.  Fire  and  slaughter  met  with  little  re- 
sistance, for  the  bravest  were  so  surprised  as 
to  fight  at  disadvantage.  Sixty  persons  were 
killed,  and  twenty-seven  old  men,  women  and 
children  were  taken  prisoners.  Thirty  Iroquois 
were  spared,  to  show  that  the  English  and  not 
the  red  men  were  the  enemies  aimed  at,  and 
immunity  was  shown  to  neighboring  settlers 
who   had    previously   befriended    French  pris- 


170  NEW  YORK. 

oners.  Twenty-five  whites  sought  safety  by 
escaping  through  the  severities  of  winter  to 
Albany,  and  all  froze  limbs  on  their  flight. 
The  invaders  made  haste  to  retreat  with  their 
prisoners  and  spoils  to  Canada,  and  suffered 
from  cold  and  hunger  on  the  way. 

Peter  Schuyler,  mayor  of  Albany,  with  two 
other  leading  men,  in  the  emergency  wrote  a 
strong  appeal  for  help  from  the  authorities  of 
Massachusetts.  He  spoke  of  the  affair  at 
Schenectady  as  a  "  dreadful  massacre  and  mur- 
ther,"  the  like  of  which  had  '*'  never  been  com- 
mitted in  these  parts  of  America,"  and  said  : 
"  the  cruelties  committed  no  pen  nor  tongue 
can  express ;  the  women  big  with  child  ripped 
up,  and  the  children  alive  thrown  into  the 
flames,  and  their  heads  dashed  in  pieces  against 
the  doors  and  windows."  The  weather  was  so 
severe  that  "  it  was  as  if  the  heavens  had  com- 
bined for  the  destruction  of  that  poor  village." 
The  French  plan  was  to  seek  immediate  alli- 
ance with  the  Mohawks,  and  presents  were 
brought  to  purchase  amity.  The  effect  was,  on 
the  contrary,  to  arouse  the  tribe  to  renewed 
activity,  and  the  alarm  at  Albany  led  to  move- 
ments to  ward  off  the  attack  which  it  was 
feared  might  be  directed  against  that  town. 

The  Mohawks,  who  had  been  assigned  the 
duty  of  scouts,  were  blamed"  for  carelessness  in 


THE  EXPLOITS  OF  FRONT  EN  AC  171 

not  detecting  the  approach  of  the  expedition, 
and  now  they  advised  the  invasion  of  Canada. 
At  Albany,  an  appeal  was  issued  to  all  the  col- 
onies for  a  united  movement  against  Quebec  in 
the  spring.  In  May,  French  agents  were  seized 
among  the  Onondagas,  and  two  were  handed 
over  to  the  red  men,  who  burned  them  to  death. 
In  the  same  month,  another  invading  party, 
coming  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain,  captured 
several  Iroquois  and  several  English  women, 
but  was  attacked  by  mistake  by  Indians  in 
the  French  service.  Here  was  killed  Kryn,  the 
Mohawk  chief,  a  devoted  champion  of  France, 
constantly  striving  to  form  an  alliance  between 
the  Iroquois  and  the  governors  of  Canada. 

The  conflict  had  already  changed  its  charac- 
ter from  a  simple  attempt  of  the  French  rulers 
to  control  the  Iroquois  by  diplomacy  and  force. 
It  had  become  a  war  between  the  colonies  sep- 
arated by  the  St.  Lawrence.  Massachusetts  had 
made  a  demonstration  by  water  under  Governor 
Phi,ps  against  Quebec,  while  a  land  movement 
from  Albany  was  conducted  by  Connecticut  and 
New  York.  The  result  was  hardly  less  than  dis- 
graceful in  both  the  land  and  naval  operations. 
The  New  York  colonists  arranged  to  take  their 
full  part  in  the  attack.  Captain  John  Schuyler, 
the  youngest  brother  of  the  mayor  of  Albany, 
added  to  the  laurels  of  his  brother  by  leading 


172  NEW  YORK. 

a  gallant  assault,  with  forty  whites  and  one 
hundred  Mohawks,  to  a  fort  at  La  Prairie,  op- 
posite Montreal.  After  driving  the  garrison 
with  great  loss  from  the  fort,  he  retired,  de- 
stroying crops  and  holding  his  command  in 
good  order.  The  next  year,  in  1691,  Peter 
Schuyler  led  a  force  of  Iroquois  and  settlers 
northward  from  Albany,  to  test  the  designs  of 
Frontenac,  and  to  defend  the  frontier.  His 
force  consisted  of  266  men  — 120  whites,  80 
Mohawks,  and  66  River  Indians.  The  rendez- 
vous was  for  July  17,  and  the  advance  was  not 
challenged  until  within  ten  miles  of  Fort  Cham- 
bly.  Plans  were  formed  for  a  hasty  march  to 
La  Prairie,  but  a  party  of  French  and  Indians, 
which  Schuyler  places  at  420,  appeared  at  the 
fort,  and  a  sharp  fight  compelled  them  to  re- 
tire within  their  defenses.  Schuyler  destroyed 
crops,  and  a  second  contest  occurred  later  the 
same  day.  Frontenac  pronounces  the  fight  at 
this  point  the  "  most  hot  and  stubborn  "  ever 
fought  in  Canada.  Schuyler  says  :  "  We  broke 
through  the  middle  of  their  body  until  we  got 
into  their  rear,  trampling  on  their  dead,  then 
faced  upon  them,  and  fought  them  until  we 
made  them  give  way  ;  then  drove  them  by 
strength  of  arm  four  hundred  paces  before  us.'* 
His  little  army  opened  the  path  homeward,  and 
won  a  real  victory.     Losses  on  both  sides  were 


THE  EXPLOITS  OF  FRONT  EN  AC.  173 

exaggerated  in  various  letters.  Schuyler  re- 
ports his  killed  at  "  21  Christians,  16  Mohawks, 
and  6  River  Indians,  and  the  wounded  in  all 
25 ; "  while,  he  says,  "  ifc  was  thought  by  all 
that  his  expedition  killed  about  200  French 
and  Indians."  The  effect  in  Canada  was  an 
offset  to  th.e  alarm  in  New  York  from  the  burn- 
ing of  Schenectady.  John  Nelson,  an  English- 
man, at  the  time  a  prisoner  in  Quebec,  writes 
that  Schuyler's  action  was  there  accounted 
''one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  glorious  at- 
tempts that  hath  been  known  in  these  parts, 
with  great  slaughter  on  the  enemy's  part,  and 
loss  on  his  own,  in  which  if  he  had  not  been 
discovered  by  an  accident,  it  is  very  probable 
he  had  become  master  of  Montreal."  That 
was  beyond  his  design,  for  the  time,  but  was 
the  incitement  to  all  his  plans. 

Captive  Iroquois  were  in  1692  taken  to  Mon- 
treal, and,  on  two  occasions  at  least,  by  order  of 
Frontenac,  some  of  them  were  tortured  and 
burned  at  the  request  of  his  Indian  allies.  The 
purpose  was  to  strike  terror  along  the  Mohawk 
and  on  Onondaga  Lake.  Any  such  effect  must 
have  been  temporary,  for  the  Iroquois  were 
soon  again  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
threatening  Montreal.  Frontenac  organized 
another  winter  expedition,  with  his  Indian  al- 
lies as  its   centre,  supported  by  a  hundred  sol- 


174  NEW  YORK. 

diers  and  a  band  of  Canadians.  The  force  num- 
bered six  hundred,  and  marched  from  Chambly 
in  January,  1693.  Sixteen  days  were  spent  in 
reaching  the  lower  Mohawk  castles,  which  were 
easily  taken,  for  the  warriors  were  absent.  The 
third  castle  was  surprised,  the  cabins  burned 
and  prisoners  taken.  The  French  then  found 
it  necessary  to  retreat,  and  at  the  end  of  two 
days'  march  they  put  up  defensive  works. 
There  Major  Peter  Schuyler,  at  the  head  of 
five  or  six  hundred  men,  including  a  party  of 
Oneidas,  came  up  with  the  invaders.  He,  too, 
prepared  defenses,  and  upon  them  repeated  as- 
saults were  in  vain  made  by  the  Frencli.  In 
the  night  the  latter  withdrew  in  a  driving 
snow-storm.  Schuyler's  force  was  on  the  point 
of  starvation,  and  was  not  able  to  make  suc- 
cessful pursuit.  The  invaders,  after  many  tri- 
als and  losses,  straggled  home.  Yet  Frontenac 
pronounced  the  expedition  a  glorious  success. 

From  this  time  for  three  years  comparative 
quiet  was  maintained  between  the  rulers  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  red  men  on  the  Mohawk. 
Frontenac  received  deputations  who  proposed 
peace,  but  he  wanted  it  on  his  own  terms. 
The  authorities  in  New  York  tried  to  keep  the 
Iroquois  in  hostility  to  the  French.  They  were 
in  large  measure  successful.  The  governor  of 
Canada  determined  upon  a  formidable  assertion 


THE  EXPLOITS  OF  FRONTENAC       '    175 

of  French  power.  He  had  restored  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  and  there  gathered  his  forces  in  July, 
1696.  They  numbered  two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred men,  regulars,  Canadians,  and  Indians,  and 
were  well  supplied  with  cannon.  Frontenac 
was  hiinsylt  in  chief  ci)nimand  ;  Callieres,  who 
was  to  be  his  successor  as  governor  of  Canada, 
and  De  \^aiidreui],  :ili-eady  rioted  in  Indian  war- 
fare, also  to  b^^conie  g  >yernoi'  and  tlse  father  of 
a  governoi',  were  his  main  lieutenants.  They 
advanced  by  the  Oswego  I^iver,  and  August  1st 
reached  Onondaga  Lake.  The  Onondagas  re- 
tired before  the  invaders.  Among  the  stragglers 
was  a  warrior  of  eighty  years,  who  was  burned 
at  the  stake,  taunting  his  captors  as  dogs,  and 
dogs  of  dogs.  The  castle  of  the  Oneidas  was 
also  destroyed,  and  some  hostages  seized,  while 
Frontenac  gave  as  the  conditions  of  peace  that 
the  whole  tribe  should  emigrate  to  Canada. 
French  valor  exhausted  itself  on  the  growing 
crops,  for  no  foe  could  be  discovered.  These 
were  the  results  of  this  ostentatious  invasion. 
The  Onondagas  and  the  Oneidas  sacrificed  their 
castles,  which  they  were  powerless  to  defend, 
and  in  the  winter  depended  for  food  largely 
upon  the  authorities  of  New  York.  Frontenac 
boasted  in  his  despatches  to  the  French  king 
that  no  force  withstood  him  in  ambuscade  or  in 


176     *  NEW  YORK. 

the  passes  of  the  hills.  The  Iroquois  strategy 
was  more  cunning  and  effective.  The  French 
force  was  compelled  to  retire  without  a  fight, 
and  the  Indian  warriors  nestled  unharmed  in 
the  wilderness. 

The  peace  of  R3^swick  in  1697,  between 
France  and  England,  ended  hostilities  with  the 
Iroquois  on  the  soil  of  New  York,  for  the  time. 
Controversy  arose  over  the  prisoners  captured, 
and  the  recognition  of  the  dependence  of  the 
Iroquois  upon  the  British  government.  But  the 
chapter  of  Frontenac's  exploits  was  closed. 
New  York  had  escaped  from  its  most  threaten- 
ing danger  of  subjection  to  the  French,  and  its 
red  men  retained  their  wide  domain.  Fron- 
tenac  died  November  22,  1698,  and  his  name  is 
indelibly  marked  in  the  annals  of  New  York  as 
well  as  of  Canada.  Distinguished  as  a  soldier, 
far-seeing  as  a  statesman,  no  other  governor  of 
Canada  approached  him  in  skill  in  dealing  with 
the  Indians  or  in  power  over  them.  He  could 
adopt  their  habits,  and  in  a  war  council  he  led 
the  war-dance  and  whooped  like  a  savage.  He 
was  seventy-six  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  in- 
vasion of  the  Onondaga  country,  and  on  the  ad- 
vance was  carried  in  a  litter.  He  learned  the 
reverses  of  fortune,  and  his  vast  schemes  for 
the  subjection  of    the    Iroquois  proved  empty 


THE  EXPLOITS  OF  FRONT  EN  AC.  17T 

visions.  The  fault  cannot  be  attributed  to 
him.  The  event  was  due  to  the  courage  and 
persistence  and  loyalty  of  the  Five  Nations  and 
to  the  advantages  which  they  enjoyed  in  their 
imperial  domain. 


11.   A  BEITISfl  COLONY. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

BEGINNINGS   OF  ENGLISH   EULB. 

1674-1688. 

The  representative  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  receive  the  province  now  finally  to  be 
known  as  New  York,  was  Major  Edmund  An- 
dros,  a  member  of  the  royal  household,  distin- 
guished in  the  wars  in  Holland,  a  major  in 
Prince  Rupert's  dragoons,  and  already  the  com- 
mander of  the  king's  forces  in  Barbadoes.  To 
him  a  commission  was  given  as  lieutenant  and 
governor  of  the  territories  of  the  Duke  of  York 
in  America,  and  these  James  took  pains  to  as- 
sure to  himself  by  a  new  patent  from  the  king. 
Elaborate  instructions  required  Governor  An- 
dres to  encourage  settlement  and  foster  trade, 
and  imposed  a  tariff  of  two  per  cent,  on  all 
goods  imported  from  England  or  its  posses- 
sions, and  ten  per  cent,  if  from  any  foreign 
country,  with  higher  charges  upon  wines  and 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  179 

liquors.  Merchandise  carried  up  the  Hudson, 
except  farmers'  tools,  was  to  pay  three  per  cent. 
In  addition,  the  excise  and  internal  taxes  im- 
posed by  Nicolls  and  Lovelace  were  to  be  con- 
tinued. Courts  were  to  be  maintained  in  the 
king's  name.  A  council  of  ten  was  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  ;  "  all  persons  of  what 
religion  soever  "  were  to  be  treated  alike,  if 
they  did  not  molest  others.  Anthony  Brock- 
holls,  a  Roman  Catholic,  was  designated  as 
lieutenant-governor,  while  Andros  was  a  mod- 
erate Episcopalian.  The  Duke  of  York  sent 
over  a  company  of  a  hundred  infantry  to  serve 
in  the  province. 

When  the  vessels  bearing  the  new  governor 
and  his  staff,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  col- 
onists, arrived  in  New  York,  Governor  Colve 
and  the  burgomasters  asked  for  guarantees  to 
the  Dutch  inhabitants.  These  were  accorded. 
November  9,  1674,  Governor  Colve  made  his 
formal  farewell,  and  the  next  day  the  ceremonies 
of  the  transfer  were  consummated.  Nine  days 
later  British  officers  were  installed  at  Albany. 
Meetings  on  the  eastern  part  of  Long  Island 
pronounced  that  their  people  owed  allegiance  to 
Connecticut,  but  Andros  soon  asserted  the 
authority  of  New  York  over  them.  Matthias 
Nicolls  was  designated  as  secretary  of  the  prov- 
ince and  mayor  of  New  York,  and  a  council 
and  board  of  aldermen  were  appointed. 


180  NEW  YORK. 

Manning,  who  liad  surrendered  the  province 
to  the  Dutch  fleet,  was  put  on  trial  for  neglect 
of  duty,  cowardice  and  treachery.  He  pleaded 
guilty  to  the  first  charge  and  appealed  for  niercy. 
His  sword  was  broken  over  his  head  in  front  of 
the  city  hall,  and  he  was  pronounced  incapable 
of  filling  any  ofiice  of  trust. 

Governor  Andros  soon  showed  the  temper 
of  his  administration.  John  Burroughs,  town 
clerk  of  Newtown,  was  forced  to  stand  an  hour 
on  the  whipping-post  in  front  of  the  city  ball, 
for  stating  by  direction  of  his  fellow-townsmen 
the  grievances  undei*  which  they  suffered. 
Many  prominent  burghers  of  New  York  objected 
to  an  oath  of  allegiance  required  of  them,  and 
eight  asked  to  take  a  modified  form  or  to  be 
permitted  to  remove  from  the  colony.  The 
governor  refused  assent,  and  the  signers  of  the 
petition,  Steenwyck,  Van  Brugh,  De  Peyster, 
Bayard,  Luyck,  Beekman,  Kip,  and  De  Milt, 
were  imprisoned  for  endeavoring  to  incite  a 
rebellion,  and  were  released  only  on  giving 
bonds.  They  sent  a  memorial  of  their  case  to 
the  States  General.  Trial  was  ordered  before 
the  court  of  assizes,  and  seven  were  convicted, 
but  finally  all  yielded  and  took  the  oath,  where- 
upon the  penalties  were  remitted.  Arrests  for 
sedition  were  not  a  rarity.  In  1678  Jacob  Mil- 
borne  was  arrested  as  "  a  mutinous   person," 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  181 

and  going  to  London  after  his  discharge,  three 
years  later,  recovered  a  verdict  of  £45  against 
Governor  Andros.  His  subsequent  career  may 
indicate  that  the  epithet  was  well  applied. 

The  transfer  of  the  colony,  however,  caused 
less  friction  than  might  have  been  expected, 
and  moderation  prevailed  as  a  rule  on  the  part 
of  the  government,  as  well  as  of  the  settlers. 
Governor  Andros  was  busy  in  other  ways  in 
confirming  his  powers.  He  landed  in  Saybrook 
with  a  force  to  proclaim  his  title  over  Connecti- 
cut ;  he  sent  soldiers  to  Martha's  Vineyard  and 
Nantucket;  and  he  visited  the  red  men  at  the 
sources  of  the  Mohawk,  penetrating  ''  nearly  a 
hundred  miles  beyond  Schenectady."  The  Iro- 
quois held  a  conference  with  him  at  Albany, 
where  they  gave  assurances  of  good  will.  Rec- 
ognizing the  importance  of  friendly  relations 
with  them,  he  organized  a  board  of  commis- 
sioners for  Indian  affairs,  and  designated  as 
secretary  Robert  Livingston,  a  Scotchman  now 
twenty-one  years  old,  who  had  come  hither 
from  Rotterdam,  and  had  already  become  town 
clerk  of  Albany.  While  New  England  was  en- 
gaged in  the  war  with  its  Indians,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  King  Philip,  charges  were  made 
that  arms  and  ammunition  were  furnished  to 
the  Indians  from  Albany.  Andros  indignantly 
denied  the  slander,  and  sent  six  barrels  of  pow- 


182  NEW  FORK. 

dev  and  other  supplies  to  Rhode  Island,  while 
that  colony  fostered  very  cordial  relations  with 
New  York.  In  the  crisis  of  the  conflict,  the 
Mohawks  struck  severe  blows  against  the  east- 
ern Indians.  Edward  Randolph,  an  agent  from 
England,  investigated  the  charges  that  Al- 
bany had  assisted  the  enemy  in  the  war,  and 
pronounced  them  "  without  any  just  cause  or 
ground,  but  rather  a  report  raised  out  of  mal- 
ice and  envy,"  and  King  Charles  confirmed  this 
judgment.  But  the  relations  between  New 
York  on  the  one  hand,  and  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  on  the  other,  continued  to  be 
strained.  With  New  Jersey  also  Andros  had 
trouble,  and  he  refused  to  allow  a  port  to  be 
opened  in  its  territory.  He  was  instructed  by 
the  Duke  of  York  to  maintain  the  northern 
bounds  of  New  York  "  as  far  as  the  Lake  or  the 
River  of  Canada."  This  claim  brought  on  con- 
troversy with  the  French  at  Montreal,  and  with 
King  Louis,  relative  to  jurisdiction  over  the 
Iroquois.  The  Duke  of  York  also  asserted 
rights  in  Maine,  and  as  the  red  men  there  were 
working  harm,  Governor  Andros  sent  an  ex- 
pedition to  Pemaquid,  where  Fort  Charles  was 
built,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  a  govern- 
ment dependent  on  New  York. 

The  Iroquois  were  already  and  long  continued 
a  source  of  very  great  anxiety  and  responsibility 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  183 

to  the  province.  In  167T,  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  asked  and  were  permitted  to  hold 
conference  with  them  in  Albany,  and  formed  a 
treaty  of  friendship.  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
in  the  same  year,  sent  an  agent,  who  agreed 
upon  satisfactory  relations  with  the  confederacy. 
Governor  Andros  went  to  England  in  1678, 
perhaps  notified  that  he  was  there  to  be  knighted 
for  his  services,  and  left  his  lieutenant,  Brock- 
holls,  in  control  of  the  province.  The  governor 
made  a  statement  of  its  affairs  when  he  reached 
London.  The  value  of  all  the  estates  was  about 
£150,000.  A  merchant  having  £500  or  £1,000 
was  accounted  substantial,  and  a  planter  *'  rich  " 
with  half  that  capital.  There  were  "  very  few 
slaves,"  each  worth  X30  to  £35.  The  exports 
were  mainly  provisions,  furs,  tar,  and  lumber, 
and  the  imports  £50,000  a  year  in  British 
manufactures.  In  all  the  province  were  about 
twenty  churches,  including  Presbyterians  and 
Independents,  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  Luther- 
ans, Reformed,  and  Jews,  and  all  supported  hy 
''free  gifts."  The  Duke  maintained  an  Epis- 
copal chaplain.  Nicolaus  van  Rensselaer,  or- 
dained in  both  the  Reformed  and  Episcopal 
churches  in  the  old  countries,  had  been  recom- 
mended by  James,  and  was  made  a  colleague 
of  Domine  Schaats  in  the  Reformed  church  in 
Albany.    Charges  were  brought  against  him  by 


184  NEW  YORK. 

Jacob  Leisler  and  Jacob  Milborne  for  heresy, 
and  he  was  tried  in  New  York,  on  appeal,  by 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  and  the  ministers  of 
the  city.  The  Albany  authorities  managed  to 
adjust  the  differences,  and  the  prosecutors  were 
compelled  to  pay  all  costs.  It  was  a  fitting 
ending  to  one  of  our  earliest  religious  contro- 
versies. 

In  1679  a  classis  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
Holland  was  organized  to  ordain  -  Petrus  Tes- 
schenmaker,  a  graduate  of  the  university  of 
Utrecht,  who  wished  to  serve  as  a  clergyman  on 
the  Delaware.  It  is  a  curious  incident  that 
Governor  Andros,  an  Episcopalian,  gave  an 
official  order  for  the  examination  of  the  candi- 
date, and  that  the  ordination  was  approved  by 
the  authorities  of  the  church  in  Amsterdam. 
Governor  Andros  also  took  the  initiative  for 
building  a  new  edifice  for  the  Reformed  Church 
in  New  York,  and  contributed  to  the  free  gifts 
for  the  purpose  ;  while  Rev.  Charles  Wolley,  an 
Episcopalian,  who  had  come  out  as  chaplain  of 
the  forces  in  the  province,  attended  the  meeting, 
with  its  pastor,  Domine  Van  Nieuwenhuysen. 
Chaplain  Wolley  in  1701  published  a  "  Journal 
of  Two  Years  in  New  York,"  in  which  he 
praised  the  air  and  pronounced  the  "  inhabi- 
tants, both  Dutch  and  English,  very  civil  and 
courteous,"  to  whose  '^  tables  he  was  frequently 


BEGINNINGS   OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  185 

invited,  and  always  concluded  with  a  generous 
bottle  of  Madeira." 

New  Jersey  was  a  continual  thorn  in  the 
flesh  of  the  New  York  authorities.  Conflicting 
claims  led  Governor  Andios  to  send  soldiers  to 
Elizabeth  town,  where  Carteret,  who  held  a 
patent  from  the  Duke  of  York,  resided,  and  in 
the  dead  of  night  he  was  taken  a  prisoner  to 
New  York  on  the  charge  of  assuming  illegal 
jurisdiction.  Andros  sat  as  judge,  while  Car- 
teret showed  his  commission  as  governor  of 
New  Jersey.  The  jury,  against  Sir  Edmund's 
efforts,  recorded  a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  and 
Carteret  was  conducted  home  with  great  pomp. 
The  autliority  of  Gcjvernor  Andros  was,  how- 
ever, so  far  recognized  that  civil  and  military 
officers  commissioned  by  him  were  inducted 
into  office  without  question.  In  1680  justices 
from  New  Jersey,  Nantucket,  and  Pemaquid 
attended  the  court  of  assizes  in  New  York. 
Quakers  had  come  into  West  Jersey,  and 
sought  to  set  up  a  separate  government.  Will- 
iam Penn  was  among  those  who  in  London  ar- 
gued their  case  before  the  Duke's  commission. 
The  matter  was  referred  to  Sir  William  Jones, 
who  found  in  favor  of  the  Quakers,  and  the 
Duke  of  York  granted  a  deed  to  their  leaders. 
In  1680,  the  controversy  over  East  Jersey  was 
settled  by  a  similar  instrument. 


186  NEW  YORK. 

Tliat  controversy  led  to  the  recall  of  Sir  Ed- 
mund Andros.  Lady  Carteret  complained  to  the 
Duke  of  the  arrest  of  her  son,  and  the  Duke  dis- 
owned all  responsibility.  Farmers  of  the  rev- 
enue were  in  favor  in  that  age,  and  an  offer  was 
made  to  James  to  pay  him  large  returns  for  the 
receipts  of  New  York.  Complaints  were  urged 
of  the  governor's  action  concerning  trade,  and 
his  accounts  were  alleged  not  to  agree  with  the 
actual  revenue.  The  Duke  sent  out  John 
Lewin  to  inquire  into  all  the  affairs  of  the  ad- 
ministration. He  prosecuted  his  investigations 
with  sleuth-hound  zeal,  and  the  authorities  of 
New  York  complained  of  his  violation  of  per- 
sonal rights.  When  his  report  was  submitted 
to  the  Duke's  attorney  and  solicitor,  they  found 
that  the  governor  had  not  "  misbehaved  him- 
self," nor  "  in  any  way  defrauded  or  mismanaged 
the  revenue."  Andros  received  a  substantial 
token  of  vindication  in  an  order  to  serve  as  a 
gentleman  of  the  king's  privy  chamber,  and  so 
was  kept  in  London  until  he  was  sent  out  as 
governor  general  of  all  the  northern  colonies. 

The  administration  in  the  absence  of  the  gov- 
ernor was  committed  to  Anthony  BrockhoUs 
as  commander-in-chief.  Trouble  befell  him  at 
once,  because  the  customs  duties  had  expired 
by  limitation  Mnd  had  not  been  renewed.  The 
merchants  on  this  ground  refused  to  pay  any 


BEGINNINGS   OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  187 

duties  on  imports.  The  council  advised  Brock- 
holls  that  he  had  no  authority  to  collect  them 
without  orders  from  the  Duke.  Dyer,  collector 
of  the  port,  was  arrested,  and  charged  with  trai- 
torously exercising  "  regal  power  and  author- 
ity," because  he  tried  to  hold  goods  to  enforce 
payment.  He  appealed  to  the  courts  at  home, 
but  without  trial  finally  received  practical  ap- 
proval of  his  course  by  appointment  as  surveyor 
general  of  customs  in  America.  The  jury,  on 
the  other  hand,  declared  to  the  court  of  assizes 
that  a  provincial  assembly  was  needed.  Sheriff 
John  Younge,  of  Long  Island,  was  designated  to 
draft  a  petition  to  the  Duke  of  York  for  "  an 
assembly  to  be  duly  elected  by  the  freeholders, 
as  is  usual  within  the  realm  of  England  and 
other  of  his  majesty's  plantations."  The  de- 
mand was  urgent,  because  the  inhabitants  "  were 
groaning  under  inexpressible  burdens  of  an  ar- 
bitrary and  absolute  power,"  by  which  "revenue 
had  been  exacted,  their  trade  crippled,  and 
their  liberties  enthralled."  Disaffection  was 
open  and  pronounced,  especially  on  Long  Is- 
land. Lieutenant-Governor  Brockholls  laid  the 
case  before  the  Duke,  and  was  censured  for  not 
promptly  renewing  the  order  for  the  duties  and 
enforcing  their  collection. 

The  pressure  for  money  led  the  Duke  to  inti- 
mate that  he  "  would  condescend  to  the  desires 


188  NEW  YORK. 

of  the  colony  in  granting  them  equal  privileges 
in  choosing  an  assembly  and  so  forth,  as  the 
other  English  plantations  in  America  have ; " 
but  this  was  ''  on  the  supposition  that  the  in- 
habitants will  agree  to  raise  money  to  discharge 
the  public  debts,  and  to  settle  such  a  fund  for 
the  future  as  may  be  sufficient  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  garrison  and  government."  James 
had  previously  disapproved  of  any  movement 
for  an  assembly  as  fraught  with  "  dangerous 
consequences,"  while  he  pointed  to  the  court  of 
assizes  as  adequate  to  hear  and  remedy  any 
grievances.  Now  he  declared,  March  28, 1682, 
that  he  ''  sought  the  common  good  and  pro- 
tection of  the  colony  and  the  increase  of  its 
trade  "  before  any  advantages  to  himself,  and 
he  promised  that  whatever  revenues  the  people 
would  provide  should  be  applied  to  the  public 
uses  suggested. 

The  summons  for  an  assembly  was,  how- 
ever, left  for  a  new  governor  to  issue.  Thomas 
Dongan,  who  was  permitted  to  inaugurate  his 
administration  with  this  gracious  act,  arrived  in 
New  York  August  28,  1683,  and  on  the  next 
day  the  city  authorities  welcomed  him  by  ''  a 
large  and  plentiful  entertainment."  He  was 
born  in  1634,  the  youngest  son  of  an  Irish  bar- 
onet, was  a  colonel  in  the  Royal  Army,  had 
seen   service  in   France,   and   been   lieutenant- 


BEGINNINGS   OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  189 

governor  of  Tangiers.  He  was  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, and  was  to  prove  himself  a  man  of  prudence, 
of  loyalty  to  the  colony,  and  for  that  period  a 
statesman  of  foresight  as  well  as  of  ability. 

His  commission  covered  the  land  to  the  west 
side  of  the  Connecticut  River,  with  Pemaquid, 
Martha's  Vineyard,  and  Nantucket.  His  in- 
structions were  to  call  Frederick  Phillipse  and 
Stephen  van  Cortlandt  and  other  "  most  eminent 
inhabitants  "  as  councilors,  not  exceeding  ten 
in  number,  and  to  summon  a  general  assembly, 
to  consist  of  not  more  than  eighteen  persons,  to 
be  chosen  by  all  the  freeholders.  This  assembly 
was  to  "  have  free  liberty  to  consult  and  debate 
for  all  laws,"  and  its  statutes  were  to  be  valid 
unless  disapproved  by  the  Duke.  The  governor 
was  clothed  with  authority  to  establish  courts 
similar  to  those  in  England,  but  the  Duke's 
command  was  a  condition  for  waging  war,  and 
revenue  could  be  collected  only  under  act  of  the 
assembly.  The  formal  summons  for  this  as- 
sembly bears  date  September  13, 1683,  and  was 
addressed  to  the  freeholders  of  Pemaquid  and 
Martha's  Vineyard  as  well  as  of  New  York, 
Long  Island,  Esopus,  and  Albany. 

The  assembly  met  in  Fort  James,  October 
17,  with  Matthias  Nicolls  as  speaker,  and  a  let- 
ter from  the  Duke  of  York  was  read.  In  a  ses- 
sion of  three  weeks  fourteen  acts  were  passed. 


190  NEW  YORK. 

By  far  the  most  important  was  "  the  Charter  of 
Liberties,"  in  which  deckiration  was  made  that 
under  the  king  and  lord  proprietor  "  the  su- 
preme legislative  authority  shall  forever  be  and 
reside  in  a  governor,  council,  and  the  people 
met  in  a  general  assembly."  It  was  the  first 
time  "the  people"  were  recognized  "in  any 
constitution  in  America,"  as  James  when  he 
became  king  took  occasion  promptly  to  point 
out.  The  whole  document  was  in  the  same 
free  spirit.  It  provided  in  elections  for  liberty 
of  choice  for  all  freeholders,  and  for  entire  free- 
dom in  religion.  It  embodied  in  plain  words 
the  principle  that  "  no  aid,  tax,  custom,  loan, 
benevolence  or  imposition  whatsoever  shall  be 
levied  within  this  province  upon  any  pretense, 
but  by  the  consent  of  the  governor,  council  and 
representatives  of  the  people  in  general  assem- 
bly." An  accompanying  act  granted  certain 
duties  on  imports  to  the  Duke  and  his  heirs. 
In  no  other  colony  in  America  bad  the  princi- 
ple of  representation  of  the  people  as  a  condi- 
tion of  taxation  been  so  clearly  asserted  by  stat- 
ute at  that  day.  Twelve  counties  were  erected 
—  New  York,  Westchester,  Ulster,  Dutchess, 
Orange,  Albany,  Richmond,  Kings,  Queens,  Suf- 
folk—  within  the  present  State,  while  Dukes 
County  included  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vine- 
yard and  dependencies,  and  Cornwall  covered 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  191 

Pemaquid  and  adjacent  territory.  Courts  were 
established  and  naturalization  provided  for. 
This  assembly  did  its  work  well  and  promptly, 
and  set  a  good  example  to  its  successors. 

The  boundaries  of  the  colony  gave  Governor 
Dongan  no  little  trouble.  Its  relations  with 
Canada  and  the  Iroquois  presented  the  most 
serious  difficulty.  He  met  the  controversy  with 
courage  and  foresight,  and  bore  himself  well  in 
complex  and  trying  negotiations.  The  claim  of 
New  York  to  jurisdiction  to  Lake  Ontario  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  he  maintained  with  persist- 
ency, and  the  purpose  to  protect  and  control  the 
red  men  in  this  territory  was  asserted  in  many 
forms.  The  raids  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  south 
brought  Francis,  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
to  confer  with  the  governor  of  New  York,  and 
together  they  met  the  chiefs  of  the  Mohawks, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  and  Cayugas  in  Albany, 
July  30,  1684.  Stephen  van  Cortlandt  repre- 
sented Massachusetts  in  the  consultation,  which 
lasted  for  several  days.  The  occasion  was  im- 
portant, the  speeches  as  they  have  been  pre- 
served were  notable  and  eloquent,  and  the  whole 
transaction  was  peculiar  and  picturesque.  The 
results  were  far-reaching  and  impressive.  The 
Four  Nations  represented  submitted  to  King 
Charles,  with  the  formality  of  signatures  and 
seals,  and  the  record  was  made  on  parchment, 


192  NEW  YORK. 

to  be  sent  to  England.  Tomahawks  were  bur- 
ied in  behalf  of  the  contracting  parties,  and 
"  the  Indians  threw  dirt  upon  them  "  in  sign 
of  enduring  peace,  and  they  "  sang  the  Peace 
Song,"  and  rejoiced  over  the  treaty.  The  arms 
of  the  Duke  of  York  were  put  upon  the  cas- 
tles of  the  Four  Nations.  As  the  negotiations 
were  closing,  the  Senecas  appeared  and  were 
included  in  the  adjustment. 

Governor  La  Barre,  on  the  part  of  Canada, 
refused  to  recognize  the  "  pretensions  "  to  the 
soil  or  its  red  inhabitants,  and  the  case  was  re- 
ported to  the  governments  of  France  and  Brit- 
ain. The  governor  of  Canada  did  not  deem  it 
necessary  to  change  his  policy  before  he  re- 
ceived orders  from  his  home  government  to 
do  so,  and  he  kept  up  his  hostile  movements 
against  the  Iroquois,  and  complained  that  help 
was  given  them  from  Albany. 

The  accession  of  James  II.  to  the  throne 
boded  no  good  to  New  York,  or  to  popular 
rights  in  any  of  the  colonies.  He  continued 
in  the  main  the  policy  towards  Canada  and 
the  Iroquois  which  had  been  inaugurated.  He 
repudiated  the  charter  of  liberties,  ostensibly  in 
part  because  it  recognized  a  ''  lord  proprietor  " 
who  was  now  king,  but  also  because  it  tended 
to  abridge  the  king's  power  and  traced  author- 
ity to  "the  people  met  in  general  assembly," 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  193 

and  he  ordered  "  the  government  of  New 
York  to  be  assimilated  to  that  of  New  Eng- 
land," where  no  assembly  was  authorized.  He 
held  on,  however,  to  the  revenue  which  had 
been  voted  as  a  consideration  for  the  charter  he 
now  repudiated.  Yet  the  colonists  felt  a  sort  of 
personal  interest  in  the  king  v^hose  ducal  title 
was  borne  by  their  domain,  and  they  gave  cor- 
dial expression  to  their  loyalty. 

His  reward  to  them,  as  to  all  the  provinces, 
was  to  enforce  the  royal  authority,  without 
respect  to  petition  or  protests.  For  one  thing 
he  deserves  credit.  While  previously  in  every 
form,  even  in  the  charter  of  liberties,  liberty 
of  conscience  was  confined  to  those  "  profess- 
ing faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ,"  now  King 
James,  in  instructions  to  Governor  Dongan, 
extended  such  liberty  to  *'  all  persons,  of  what 
religion  soever."  He  extended  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury over  the  colony,  and  schoolmasters  were 
required  to  get  licenses  from  him.  At  the 
same  time,  printing  without  leave  of  the  gov- 
ernor was  expressly  prohibited.  The  provin- 
cial assembly,  first  prorogued  for  six  months, 
was  by  proclamation  of  January  20,  1687,  for- 
mally dissolved,  and  Governor  Dongan  and  his 
council  assumed  power  to  impose  taxes  and 
frame   statutes.     But   the   right   of   represen- 


194  NEW  YORK. 

tation  was  so  vital  and  fruitful  in  the  breasts 
of  the  colonists,  that  the  denial  of  it  caused  a 
stir  and  ferment  which  soon  compelled  its  res- 
toration. 

All  the  while  the  Iroquois  kept  busy  the 
wits  and  the  resources  of  the  governors  of 
New  York  and  Canada,  and  compelled  them  to 
make  frequent  resort  to  the  home  authorities. 
Governor  Dongan  gave  passes  for  trade  and 
hunting  to  young  men  to  penetrate  to  the 
western  tribes,  and  this  competition  invited 
protests  from  the  French.  The  French  gov- 
ernors kept  up  their  raids  at  intervals  into  the 
Iroquois  country.  The  influence  of  French 
missionaries  prompted  Dongan  to  seek  for 
English  Jesuits  to  counteract  it.  He  held  fre- 
quent conferences  with  the  red  men,  and,  by 
moral  means  and  occasionally  by  arms  and  aid, 
strengthened  them  against  the  French.  His 
plans  were  far-reaching.  He  recommended  the 
erection  of  forts  at  Ticonderoga,  Oswego,  and 
Niagara  to  serve  as  a  cordon  about  the  red  men, 
whom  he  recognized  as  the  "  bulwark '*  of  the 
colony  against  French  assault. 

Governor  Dongan  thriftily  turned  many  a 
penny  from  the  change  which  had  taken  place 
in  the  occupancy  of  the  British  throne.  He 
required  the  several  towns  to  take  out  new 
patents,    and    collected  fees   on   them.      New 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  RULE,  195 

York  and  Albany  in  1686  each  paid  him  £300 
for  their  revised  charters,  besides  fees  to  subor- 
dinates, and  Rensselaerwj^ck  paid  <£200.  The 
charges  created  no  scandals,  and  were  accounted 
the  proper  perquisites  of  the  office.  Nor  was 
Dongan  a  venal  man.  He  pledged  his  personal 
credit  and  mortgaged  his  farm  to  raise  money 
in  aid  of  the  expedition  against  Canada  which 
brought  so  little  of  glory. 

His  official  career  was  closed  by  the  policy 
adopted  by  King  James  of  consolidating  the 
colonies  north  of  Pennsylvania  under  a  single 
head.  He  proved  himself  here  a  competent 
governor,  faithful,  of  broad  views  and  vigorous 
in  action ;  his  report  continues  to  be  a  model  of 
clearness  and  accuracy  concerning  the  affairs  of 
the  colony.  The  principal  towns  were  at  this 
time  New  York,  Albany,  and  Kingston,  and  the 
first  two  were  maintained  wholly  by  trade  with 
the  Indians,  with  England,  and  with  the  West 
Indies.  England  took  beaver  and  other  peltry, 
oil  and  tobacco,  while  to  the  West  Indies  flour, 
bread,  peas,  pork,  and  sometimes  horses  were 
exported.  New  York  was  far  from  an  English 
or  even  a  British  settlement.  Governor  Don- 
gan  testifies  that  in  seven  yeaiis  after  his  com- 
ing, not  over  twenty  families  arrived  of  Eng- 
lish, Scotch,  or  Irish  people,  while  of  French 
families  several  had  come,  and  several  Dutch 


196  NEW  YORK. 

families  had  been  added  to  the  population. 
On  such  facts  he  based  an  argument  for  the 
union  of  the  Jerseys  and  Connecticut  with  New 
York,  "so  that  a  more  equal  balance  may  be 
kept  between  his  Majesty's  natural  born  sub- 
jects and  foreigners,  which  latter,"  he  adds, 
"  are  the  most  prevailing  part  of  this  govern- 
ment."    He  states  the  case  moderately. 

German  and  French  Protestants  found  wel- 
come in  New  York,  and  after  the  repeal  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  the  latter  came  in  considerable 
numbers,  so  that  the  Huguenots  attained  at 
once  to  recognized  influence  both  by  reason  of 
their  numbers,  and  the  ability,  worth,  and  thrift 
of  their  leaders.  The  current  of  migration 
from  Canada  was  at  times  so  strong  as  to  lead 
to  appeals  from  Montreal  for  aid  from  Albany 
to  check  it.  The  Quakers  were  those  who  fared 
worst  under  the  administration  of  Governor 
Dongan.  Their  creed  did  not  permit  them  to 
take  up  arms  for  the  colony  in  its  needs,  and 
they  were  fined  for  refusal.  For  kindred  rea- 
sons the  privilege  of  voting  was  denied  to  them. 
Their  grievances  now  begun  were  long  the  sub- 
ject of  discussion. 

After  he  gave  up  his  position,  Governor 
Dongan  retired  to  his  farm  at  Hempstead. 
When  the  anti-Catholic  fever  raged  he  was 
brought    under    suspicion.     Because    he    con- 


BEGINNINGS   OF  ENGLISH  RULE.  197 

structed  a  brigantine  for  a  visit  to  England,  he 
was  charged  with  getting  up  a  force  to  niain- 
tain  the  authority  of  James  against  William 
and  Mary,  and  in  Leisler's  time  a  warrant  was 
issued  for  his  arrest.  He  withdrew  across  the 
border  until  the  craze  passed  away.  In  his 
administration  he  was  tolerant  of  all  creeds,  not 
only  because  his  instructions  so  enjoined,  but 
because  his  own  spirit  was  generous  and  liberal. 
Those  were  evil  times  which  chose  such  a  man 
for  a  victim,  and  heaped  false  charges  upon 
him,  and  drove  him,  even  temporarily,  from 
the  rural  home  where  he  was  illustrating  the 
modest  virtues  of  a  private  person. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

A  REBELLION  AND   AN  EXECUTION. 

1688-1691. 

The  colony  was  now  to  enter  upon  stirring 
experiences.  James  11.  had  ordered  the  con- 
solidation of  the  northern  colonies  under  the 
title  of  the  Dominion  of  New  England,  and  had 
designated  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  at  the  time 
governor  in  Boston,  as  Governor-in-Chief  and 
Captain-General.  He  was  to  have  a  council 
of  forty-two  members,  selected  from  the  various 
provinces.  No  seat  of  government  was  desig- 
nated, and  Governor  Andros  exercised  his 
power  wherever  he  happened  to  be,  whether  in 
Boston,  New  York,  or  far-off  Pemaquid.  The 
majority  of  the  population  was  east  of  the 
Hudson,  and  a  close  union  of  the  colonies  was 
for  many  purposes  desirable.  But  New  York 
did  not  take  kindly  to  the  apparent  advantages 
which  its  eastern  neighbors  were  likely  to  gain 
by  the  new  policy.  Its  governor  and  the 
merchants  at  the  seaport  wanted  Connecticut 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.       199 

and  the  Jerseys  brought  under  its  jurisdiction. 
One  of  the  first  results  of  the  royal  plan  was 
to  carry  Connecticut  into  the  arms  of  Boston. 
It  was  inevitable  also  that  the  eastern  towns  of 
Long  Island,  largely  settled  from  New  England, 
should  go  east  to  trade  more  than  the  mer- 
chants of  New  York  approved.  New  England 
was  Puritan  in  creed,  and  its  clergy  directed 
its  policy.  New  York  was  liberal,  already  cos- 
mopolitan, and  gave  no  special  preference  to 
priest  or  preacher  of  any  creed. 

Governor  Andros  had  in  this  first  council 
Anthony  Brockholls,  Frederick  Phillipse,  Jarvis 
Baxter,  Stephen  van  Cortlandt,  John  Spragg, 
John  Younge,  Nicholas  Bayard,  and  John 
Palmer,  of  New  York.  They  took  part  in  legis- 
lation and  administration  for  all  the  northern 
colonies,  while  New  York  was  equally  subject 
to  the  joint  authority  of  the  councilors  resident 
elsewhere.  Andros  came  to  New  York  August 
11,  1688,  to  receive  the  transfer  of  power  from 
Dongan,  and  was  received  with  pomp,  and  kind- 
ly remembrance  of  his  previous  services.  He 
visited  Albany  for  a  conference  with  the  Iro- 
quois, at  the  time  when  Denonville  was  threaten- 
ing to  subdue  them.  But  the  governor  general 
soon  found  that  the  eastern  colonies  needed  his 
care,  and  kept  him  in  Boston,  while  Francis 
Nicholson,  captain  of  a  company  of  soldiers  sent 


200  NEW  YORK. 

from  England,  represented,  as  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor of  the  Dominion,  the  royal  authority  in 
New  York. 

When  James  Stuart,  by  his  bigotry  and  arbi- 
trary measures,  threw  away  the  crown  of  Britain, 
the  American  colonies  were  cast  into  a  ferment 
of  excitement.  They  had  been  warned  to  guard 
against  invasion  by  foreign  force.  They  were 
prompt  to  respond  to  the  first  summons  to  pro- 
claim the  new  sovereigns.  New  England  re- 
joiced because  they  were  Protestants ;  New 
York  beheld  in  William  a  Dutchman,  its  former 
friend,  and  therefore  the  harbinger  of  a  restora- 
tion of  its  local  government.  But  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary,  as  it  was  the  immediate 
source  of  revolt  in  Massachusetts,  led  in  New 
York  to  rebellion,  open,  armed,  and  for  a  while 
completely  successful. 

The  colonies,  the  British  law-officers  held, 
passed  from  one  sovereign  to  another  by  the 
same  act  which  brought  in  William  and  Mary. 
They  confirmed  in  the  colonies  the  commissions 
of  all  persons  "being  Protestants."  When 
Nicholson  in  New  York  learned  by  a  shipmaster 
from  Virginia  of  the  change  of  government  in 
England,  he  scouted  at  the  "  invasion,"  and  for- 
bade promulgation  of  the  news.  When  Andros, 
who  was  in  Maine,  was  informed  of  the  revolu- 
tion, he  awaited  official  notification.     This,  it 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.        201 

was  charged,  was  delayed  by  the  intrigues  of 
Increase  Mather,  who  was  in  London.  By  a 
popular  movement  Governor  Andros,  on  return- 
ing to  Boston,  was  placed  under  arrest,  and  a 
committee  of  safety  for  Massachusetts  was 
created.  So  the  Douiinion  of  New  England 
went  to  pieces,  and  New  York  was  left  to  ad- 
minister its  own  affairs.  Andros  had  definitely 
cut  off  Pemaquid,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  their 
dependencies  from  its  jurisdiction,  and  confirmed 
Connecticut  in  its  separation. 

Nicholson,  the  lieutenant  governor  at  New 
York,  had  no  nerve  to  breast  a  storm.  His  title 
to  act  at  all  was  questioned.  With  his  chief 
under  arrest,  could  he  claim  original  authority  ? 
The  three  councilors  then  in  New  York  were 
Phillipse,  Van  Cortlandt,  and  Bayard.  They 
summoned  the  aldermen  and  council  of  the  city 
to  advise  in  the  emergency,  the  justices  and 
military  officers  accessible  were  invited,  and  an 
appeal  was  issued  to  royal  councilors  to  assist 
with  their  wisdom.  Not  one  of  the  latter  ap- 
peared, nor  did  the  rural  counties  respond  when 
asked  to  appoint  delegates  for  conference. 
Nicholson  sent  a  messenger  to  England  with  a 
report  of  the  situation  and  a  request  for  in- 
structions, and  in  the  mean  time  he  concluded 
that  it  was  "  most  safe  to  forbear  acting  in  the 
premises  till  the  minds  of  the  people  become 


202  NEW  YORK. 

better  satisfied  and  quieted."  Andros  had  no 
suggestions  for  his  lieutenant  further  than  to 
ask  him  to  send  commissioners  to  Boston  to  ask 
for  the  governor's  release  from  imprisonment. 

But  New  York  took  no  interest  in  petitions 
to  the  committee  of  safety  in  Boston,  and  was 
not  disposed  to  ''forbear  acting."  On  the  con- 
trary, the  rule  of  James  II.  had  introduced  into 
the  colony  a  dread  of  Catholic  aggression.  Don- 
gan  was  a  Catholic,  and  personally  observed  the 
forms  of  his  church,  while  he  was  tolerant  to 
every  faith.  Nicholson  was  nominally  an  Epis- 
copalian, but  he  had  in  the  camp  of  King  James 
reverently  kneeled  at  the  celebration  of  the 
mass,  and  by  a  stretch  of  intolerance  was  de- 
nounced as  a  "  papist."  His  three  councilors 
belonged  to  the  Dutch  church.  The  religious 
fears  and  prejudices  which  had  precipitated  the 
revolution  in  Britain  were  grotesquely  para- 
phrased in  New  York.  "  With  his  sword 
William  became  King  of  England ;  "  with  his 
sword  Jacob  Leisler  became  Dictator  of  New 
York. 

The  story  is  for  the  greater  part  a  comedy 
rather  than  a  tragedy  ;  for  the  rebellion  was 
achieved  without  bloodshed,  and  only  at  its  close 
were  lives  sacrificed.  At  last  the  chief  paid  for 
his  brief  exercise  of  power  with  his  life.  One 
of  the  first  needs  of  the  government,  when  the 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.        203 

arrest  of  Andros  occurred,  was  for  funds,  espe- 
cially for  the  defense  of  the  port.  Nicholson 
ordered  the  revenue  from  the  customs  to  be  ap- 
plied to  this  purpose.  Jacob  Leisler,  a  captain 
of  militia,  refused  to  pay  duties  on  a  cargo  of 
wine,  on  the  pretext  that  the  collector  was  a 
''  papist."  The  militia  was  called  to  keep  guard 
at  Fort  James,  in  apprehension  of  French  in- 
vasion. Lieutenant  Henry  Cuyler  ordered  a 
man  to  stand  sentinel,  and  Nicholson  called  him 
to  account  for  exceeding  his  authority,  and  in 
wild  rage  exclaimed  :  "  I  would  rather  see  the 
town  on  fire  than  commanded  by  you !  "  His 
words  were  reported  as  a  threat  to  burn  the 
town,  and  they  started  the  flame  of  revolution. 
The  succeeding  Sunday  it  came  to  be  alleged 
he  was  to  order  another  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. 

A  conference  was  held  May  31,  1689,  when 
Nicholson  sought  to  explain  his  position.  He 
lost  his  temper,  took  Cuyler's  commission  away, 
and  afforded  the  occasion  for  open  revolt.  The 
militia  captains  who  were  present  ordered  the 
drums  beat.  The  companies  were  soon  under 
arms,  and  on  their  demand  Nicholson  gave  up 
to  them  the  keys  of  the  fort.  A  declaration 
was  drafted  by  Leisler,  signed  by  several,  and 
circulated  in  manuscript,  repeating  the  griev- 
ances and  dangers  felt  and  apprehended,  and 


204  NEW  YORK. 

promising  to  hold  the  fort  "  in  behalf  of  the 
power  that  now  governeth  in  England,  and  to 
surrender  to  tbe  person  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion" sent  to  receive  it.  The  charges  grew  by 
repetition.  By  accident  a  sloop  arrived  from 
the  Barbadoes,  off  Coney  Island,  and  it  was  rep- 
resented to  be  the  advance  of  a  French  fleet 
with  a  Catholic  army.  The  militia  was  gath- 
ered into  the  fort,  and  Leisler  issued  a  procla- 
mation, signed  also  by  five  other  captains  and 
four  hundred  men,  renewing  the  pledge  to  hold 
the  fort,  with  the  specification  that  they  awaited 
"  orders  from  His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of 
Orange."  Official  letters  addressed  to  Nichol- 
son and  his  councilors  Leisler  seized  and  read. 
He  and  four  other  captains  joined  in  an  address 
to  William  and  Mary,  reciting  the  events  in 
which  they  were  actors,  and  giving  assurance 
of  prompt  submission  to  their  pleasuie.  While 
Leisler  was  acting  with  so  much  vigor,  Nichol- 
son went  off  to  England,  June  6,  1689,  carrying 
letters  from  clerg;^mien  and  his  councilors,  and 
abandoning  the  field. 

Now,  if  not  before,  Leisler  might  claim  the 
right  to  act.  He  summoned  first  a  committee 
of  safety,  and  then  a  popular  convention.  Dele- 
gates were  chosen  by  a  light  vote  from  most  of 
the  towns,  excepting  those  in  Queens,  Suffolk, 
Ulster,  and  Albany  counties,  and  they  assembled 


A  EE  BELL  I  ON  AND  AN  EXECUTION.        205 

in  the  fort  in  New  York,  June  26,  1689.  Two 
withdrew  when  the  purpose  became  apparent ; 
but  ten  members  constituted  themselves  into 
a  committee  of  safety,  and  designated  Jacob 
Leisler  as  captain  of  the  fort,  "  till  orders  shall 
come  from  their  Majesties."  He  set  to  work, 
built  a  battery,  and  organized  a  company  of 
soldiers.  He  sent  out  Sergeant  Joost  Stoll,  a 
"dram-seller,"  to  "disarm  the  papists,"  and 
several  persons  were  arrested.  No  magistrate 
could  be  found  to  administer  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  existing  power,  and  so  the  commit- 
tee of  safety  designated  Leisler  as  commander- 
in-chief  with  full  discretion.  Report  of  these 
transactions  was  carried  to  London  by  Stoll 
and  Matthew  Clarkson,  the  latter  of  whom  re- 
turned as  secretary  of  the  province.  Orders 
were  issued  for  elections  in  the  several  counties, 
which  were  only  in  part  recognized.  Albany 
under  the  guidance  of  its  mayor,  Peter  Schuy- 
ler, and  the  leading  inhabitants,  refused  to 
recognize  the  commander-in-chief,  or  to  be 
"subordinate  to  the  city  of  New  York."  When 
alarm  arose  from  the  operations  of  Denonville, 
Albany  sent  an  express  to  Leisler  for  help,  and 
in  turn  he  declined  to  cooperate  in  the  defense 
of  the  northern  borders.  Nor  was  he  content 
with  this  refusal.  He  sent  a  force  with  three 
sloops  under  his  son-in-law,  Jacob  Milborne,  up 


206  IVEW  YORK. 

the  Hudson  to  bring  the  recusant  town  into 
subjection.  Milborne  did  not  fail  for  lack  of 
speech  or  strategy.  His  arguments  were  set 
aside,  and  Mayor  Peter  Schuyler,  in  command 
of  the  fort,  thrust  him  out,  and,  ordering  the 
garrison  to  load  its  guns,  he  "read  a  paper." 
He  had  also  at  hand  a  body  of  Mohaw^ks  ready 
to  help  the  Albany  garrison  against  the  New 
York  assailants.  Milborne  was  compelled  to 
withdraw  as  he  came,  except  as  he  had  organ- 
ized a  faction  among  the  young  men  with  Jo- 
achim Staats  as  leader. 

In  New  York  Leisler's  power  was  growing. 
The  charges  of  "  popish  plots,"  and  of  hostile 
schemes  on  the  part  of  Nicholson  and  his  allies, 
were  diligently  exaggerated,  and  the  usual  de- 
vices of  arbitrary  power  of  searches  and  annoy- 
ances were  employed,  so  that  not  a  few  persons 
of  prominence  fled  from  the  colony.  When 
special  letters  addressed  to  Nicholson  arrived, 
or  to  "  such  as  may  bear  rule  for  the  time  being," 
Leisler  appropriated  them,  and  acted  on  the 
orders  they  contained.  He  seized  a  messenger 
bearing  other  orders  from  England.  There- 
upon he  claimed  authority  as  lieutenant  gover- 
nor under  the  king's  commission,  and  he  tried  to 
continue  the  government  in  the  former  grooves. 
By  the  seizure  of  private  letters  he  claimed  that 
he  had  "  detected  a  hellish  conspiracy  "  against 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.       207 

the  king's  government  and  New  York,  and  on 
this  pretext  he  arrested  the  councilor  Bayard, 
who  was  carried  in  chains  about  the  fort,  and 
William  NicoUs,  who  had  also  aroused  his  hate. 
They  were  kept  in  close  confinement  for  thirteen 
months.  When  Schenectady  was  burned,  the 
popular  alarm  prompted  him  to  order  many 
other  arrests. 

The  dread  of  the  vigorous  movements  of 
Frontenac  for  the  moment  brought  recognition 
of  the  sole  government  existing  on  the  lower 
Hudson.  On  the  advice  of  Connecticut,  the 
Albany  authorities  accepted  Leisler  as  gov- 
ernor, although  the  ink  was  yet  fresh  on  their 
protest  that  he  was  a  "  restless  and  ambitious 
spirit,"  "  acting  without  the  least  show  of  au- 
thority." To  a  summons  to  elect  delegates  to 
an  assembly,  all  the  counties  except  Suffolk  and 
Queens  responded,  and  it  was  held  April  24, 
1690,  and  provided  for  a  revenue;  but  on  re- 
ceiving petitions  for  the  release  of  political 
prisoners  it  was  prorogued  until  September, 
when  it  met  again  to  clothe  Leisler  with  almost 
absolute  control  of  person  and  property  in  the 
colony. 

One  of  the  anomalies  of  history  is  that  the 
call  for  the  first  Colonial  Congress  in  America 
proceeded  from  this  governor,  whose  title  was 
won  by  his  sword  and  his  audacity,  was  always 


208  NEW  YORK. 

in  dispute,  and  was  finally  cancelled  on  the 
gallows.  The  immediate  suggestion  was  j)i'e- 
sented  by  the  convention  htld  in  Albany  in 
February,  1690,  and  was  inspired  by  the  Five 
Nations  as  the  teaching  of  their  exj)erience. 
The  Colonial  Congress  met  in  New  York,  May 
1,  1690,  and  Jacob  Leisler  and  Peter  de  la 
Noy  were  the  members  for  that  colony.  Its 
business  was  to  organize  joint  expeditions 
against  Canada.  The  coopeiation  was  far 
from  complete,  and  the  movement  became  a 
failure,  to  serve  for  a  prophecy  of  a  future 
achievement,  when  union  should  be  learned 
and  practiced. 

William  and  Mary  refused  to  listen  to  the 
agents  of  Leisler,  and  appointed  Colonel  Henry 
Sloughter  to  be  governor  of  New  York.  But 
the  incumbent  held  his  position  firmly,  though 
once  assaulted  in  the  street.  He  grew  more 
arbitrary  in  his  conduct,  and  delay  in  the  ar- 
rival of  the  newly  appointed  executive  pro- 
duced serious  complications.  Sloughter's  com- 
mission bore  date  September  2,  1689,  but  by 
delay  in  England  and  mishaps  to  his  vessel  at 
Bermuda,  he  did  not  reach  New  York  until 
March  19, 1691.  In  the  mean  time  a  vessel  had 
arrived  which  sailed  when  he  did,  and  boie 
Major  Richard  Ingoldsby,  with  two  companies 
of  soldiers.     These  landed  September  10, 1690. 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.       209 

Major  Ingoldsby  had  no  authority  to  act  as 
commander  in  the  absence  of  his  chief.  Leis- 
ler  professed  himself  as  ready  to  welcome 
Governor  Sloughter,  and  offered  quarters  to 
Ingoldsby  and  his  soldiers  in  the  town,  but  in- 
sisted on  holding  the  fort  until  the  governor 
should  arrive.  Collision  arose  upon  this 
ground.  Leisler  collected  the  militia  to  sustain 
him.  Ingoldsby,  on  the  urgency  of  persons 
named  of  the  new  governor's  council,  prepared 
for  seizing  the  fort.  Armed  men  were  arrayed 
against  each  other.  Proclamations,  addresses, 
letters,  were  thick  as  rooks.  March  17,  Leisler 
with  his  own  hands  fired  a  gun  from  the  fort 
at  the  British  troops  on  parade,  and  volleys 
of  musketry  followed.  The  force  of  Ingoldsby 
returned  the  fire.  Of  the  latter  two  were 
killed,  and  several  wounded.  On  Leisler 's  side 
six  were  killed. 

The  bloodshed  would  have  been  prevented  if 
patience  had  held  out  two  days  longer,  for  when 
the  hostile  forces  were  waiting  to  renew  the 
conflict.  Governor  Sloughter  arrived,  hastened 
to  land,  and  organized  his  government.  Leisler 
first  asked  for  sight  of  the  royal  commission, 
and  sought  to  make  terms,  but  he  soon  surren- 
dered the  fort,  and  was  imprisoned  with  his 
chief  supporters.  The  next  month  they  were 
put  on  trial,  charged  with  treason  and  murder, 


210  NEW  YORK. 

for  holding  the  fort  after  the  arrival  of  In- 
goldsby,  and  for  the  resistance  offered  to  him. 
A  court  was  specially  commissioned  to  conduct 
the  trial ;  all  of  its  members  were  English  or 
Scotch,  and  nearly  all  with  titles  as  oflScers. 
Major  Ingoldsby  was  one  of  the  judges  named, 
and  William  Pinhorne,  another  of  them,  was 
also  designated  on  a  committee,  with  Bayard 
and  Van  Cortlandt,  to  prepare  evidence  for  the 
prosecution.  The  jury  was  all  drawn  from  New 
York,  while  the  other  counties  were  not  repre- 
sented at  all.  Then  and  afterwards  it  was  al- 
leged that  the  governor  and  council  put  only 
the  enemies  of  Leisler  on  the  bench ;  and  this  is 
substantially  true.  Leisler  and  his  son-in-law 
and  main  support,  Milborne,  denied  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  court,  but  they  were  found  guilty  as 
mutes.  Besides  them  were  convicted  Abraham 
Gouverneur,  Gerardus  Beekman,  Johannes  Ver- 
milye,  Thomas  Williams,  Myndert  Coerten,  and 
Abraham  Brasher.  Two  others  indicted  were 
acquitted.  Most  of  these  prisoners  were  after 
a  time  discharged,  but  passion  raged  bitter  and 
violent  against  Leisler  and  Milborne.  The 
Dutch  clergymen,  who  had  felt  the  rebel's 
power,  led  the  demand  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  law,  and  the  wealthier  people,  especially  the 
women,  joined  in  the  clamor.  Petitions  were 
presented  for  pardon  or  mitigation  of  sentence, 
but  to  no  avail. 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.       211 

Leisler  and  Milborne  were  hanged,  and  their 
heads  separated  from  their  bodies,  May  16, 1691, 
near  old  Tammany  Hall,  in  New  York.  It  was 
a  cruel,  unnecessary  exercise  of  legal  authority. 
When  Sloughter  arrived,  the  foundation  and 
superstructure  of  Leisler 's  power  were  anni- 
hilated. 

He  was  a  rebel,  it  is  true,  but  he  had  not 
used  his  usurped  power  corruptly  or  basely. 
Even  his  enemies  rested  their  entire  indictment 
against  him  on  his  conduct  subsequent  to  the 
landing  of  Ingoldsby.  If  his  authority  before 
that  time  was  not  controverted  in  court,  he  can 
well  be  pardoned  for  insisting  on  some  real  title 
on  the  part  of  those  who  summoned  him  to  sur- 
render. The  evidence  is  absolute  that  he  had 
the  support  of  a  large  and  growing  majority  of 
the  people.  Of  the  three  resident  councilors 
whom  Nicholson  left,  Phillipse  early  joined 
Leisler,  and  Bayard  later  recognized  him.  The 
Albany  convention  yielded  after  a  while,  and 
the  other  colonies  all  followed  Connecticut  in 
treating  him  as  the  governor  of  New  York. 

He  was  born  in  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  and 
came  to  New  York  as  a  soldier  in  the  pay  of  the 
West  India  Company.  He  engaged  in  trade 
and  took  sea  ventures,  on  one  of  which  in  1678 
he  was  captured  by  the  Turks,  and  compelled 
to  secure  his  freedom  by  a  large  ransom.     His 


212  NEW  YORK. 

education  was  limited,  but  he  became  connected 
by  marriage  with  both  Bayard  and  Van  Cort- 
landt.  He  caught  the  wild  fever  of  the  times 
against  the  Catholics,  and  like  other  zealots  de- 
nounced as  "  papists  "  all  who  crossed  his  path. 
The  divisions  which  he  caused  weakened  the 
colony  in  its  contests  with  the  French  in  Canada  ; 
but  he  put  forth  wise  and  broad  efforts  to  cor- 
rect that  evil,  and  to  organize  the  forces  of  New 
York,  and  to  make  it  a  centre  of  a  union  of  all 
the  colonies. 

His  faults  were  those  of  all  usurpers.  He 
was  arbitrary  and  violent,  and  pursued  his  per- 
sonal enemies  with  public  enginery.  Yet  until 
that  unfortunate  last  day  before  the  arrival  of 
Slonghter,  he  shed  no  drop  of  blood  to  get  or  to 
hold  his  place.  He  appealed  to  popular  forms 
for  carrying  on  his  administration,  and  expressed 
himself  at  all  times  as  ready  to  hand  it  over  to 
any  duly  accredited  representative  of  the  British 
crown.  His  logic  was  natural  that  King  Will- 
iam could  not  deem  him  guilty  for  maintaining 
the  Protestant  faith  in  New  York  by  the  same 
instrument  that  asserted  it  in  England.  But 
the  Protestant  faith  was  in  no  danger  in  New 
York.  The  Catholics  were  few  in  number,  had 
never  been  aggressive,  and  could  have  exercised 
no  control  if  they  had  tried  to  do  so.  But  Don- 
gan  had  several  Catholics  in  prominent  places, 


A  REBELLION  AND  AN  EXECUTION.        213 

and  lie  was  charged  with  putting  a  Jesuit  over 
the  Latin  school.  Those  who  saw  in  Canada 
and  in  France  the  incarnation  of  the  papal 
power  were  easily  alarmed,  although  New  York 
was  far  less  bigoted  than  other  countries.  Race 
controversies  facilitated  the  schemes  of  Leisler. 
The  English  rule  was  not  yet  so  firmly  estab- 
lished but  that  those  of  other  blood  and  other 
birth  found  occasion  for  complaint.  They  had 
probably  their  fair  share  in  the  colonial  council 
and  local  offices,  but  the  difference  was  a  con- 
venient pretext  for  a  rallying  cry. 

Leisler  was  overthrown  by  no  popular  up- 
rising. He  felt  strong  enough  to  hold  the  fort 
against  two  companies  of  British  regulars.  He 
succumbed  to  the  royal  seal,  but  not  to  actual 
force.  His  dying  speech  was  that  of  a  sincere 
man,  not  without  a  touch  of  heroism,  and  with 
a  deep  desire  for  the  welfare  of  the  colony.  Ifc 
puts  his  religious  character  in  a  favorable  light. 
Milborne  was  less  resigned  to  the  gallows,  and 
had  less  of  the  stuff  of  leader  or  martyr.  The 
British  parliament  passed  in  1695  an  act  revers- 
ing the  attainder  of  Leisler  and  his  associates, 
and  annulling  all  the  convictions.  The  act  not 
only  recognized  Leisler's  appointment'  by  the 
assembly,  but  treats  it  as  confirmed  by  the 
royal  letters  addressed  to  "  such  as  bear  rule," 
and  expressly  declares  that  Ingoldsby's  demand 


214  NEW  YORK. 

for  possession  of  the  fort  was  "  without  legal 
authority,"  while  the  transfer  to  Sloughter  was 
gracious  and  in  due  time.  If  the  severity  of  the 
court  and  of  the  governor,  council  and  assembly 
had  been  mitigated  by  the  generosity  which  at 
that  late  day  parliament  exhibited,  the  record 
of  New  York  might  have  been  spared  the  stain 
of  cruelty  and  of  the  sacrifice  from  political 
malice  of  two  brave  and  active  lives. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  EEACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION. 
1691-1708. 

Colonel  Sloughter  had  a  council  appointed 
for  him  at  Whitehall,  made  up  of  the  pronounced 
opponents  of  Leisler,  or,  as  the  phrase  was,  of 
members  of  the  "  party  of  aristocrats  ;  "  for 
already  wealth  was  a  claim  to  distinction,  and 
certain  families  began  to  assume  eminence  and 
influence.  He  was  authorized  to  summon  a 
general  assembly,  abolished  by  James  II.  When 
that  body  assembled,  it  appealed  to  the  king  to 
give  back  Connecticut  and  the  original  Jerseys, 
including  Pennsylvania,  to  this  colony,  and  it 
re-enacted  substantially  the  old  charter  of  liber- 
ties, with  the  exclusion,  however,  of  the  right  to 
worship  according  to  the  "  Romish  religion." 

So  the  government  of  the  province  was  put 
again  on  a  regular  track.  Relations  with  its 
neighbors  were  growing  more  close  in  various 
ways.  The  questions  which  were  arising  were 
not  unlike  those  which  the  settlers  elsewhere 
had  to  deal  with.     The    conditions    were  not 


216  NEW  YORK. 

identical ;  for  the  inhabitants  were  in  large  part 
different  in  origin,  in  training,  and  in  many- 
elements  of  character,  and  their  views  of  British 
authority  were  not  the  same.  By  geographical 
position,  now  that  the  colonists  recognized  a 
common  sovereign.  New  York  became  a  link 
between  those  to  the  east  and  those  to  the  south, 
and  the  activity  and  importance  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  the  continual  conflicts  with  Canada,  made  it 
a  centre  of  colonial  conference  and  operations. 

History  often  turns  on  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  the  rulers.  At  this  period  New  York 
affords  no  wide  field  of  that  sort.  Its  governors 
moved  over  the  stage  almost  as  rapidly  and  with 
little  more  substance  than  the  Scottish  kings 
appeared  to  Macbeth.  Their  terms  were  more 
brief  than  those  in  other  colonies.  While  Vir- 
ginia had  twenty  governors  in  the  century  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  Massachusetts  twenty-one, 
and  Pennsylvania  twenty-five,  the  executive 
authority  in  New  York  underwent  thirty-three 
changes,  counting  the  lieutenant  governors  serv- 
ing temporarily  as  heads  of  the  government. 
Governor  Sloughter  died  suddenly  July  23, 
1691,  whereupon  Major  Ingoldsby  conducted 
the  administration  until  Colonel  Benjamin 
Fletcher  came  out  as  governor,  August  29, 1692. 
Richard,  Earl  of  Bellamont,  appointed  in  1695, 
did  not  arrive    until    April  2,  1698,  and  died 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         217 

March  5,  1701.  John  Nanfan,  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor, acted  as  chief  executive  from  May  19 
of  that  yea  I-  until  Lord  Cornbury  entered  upon 
the  government  in  1702.  He  gave  place,  De- 
cember 18, 1708,  to  John,  Lord  Lovelace,  who 
died  very  soon  after  his  arrival.  Then  Major 
Ingoldsby  acted  again  until  April  10, 1710,  when 
Gerardus  Beekman,  who  had  been  indicted  with 
Leisler,  was  chosen  by  the  council  to  await  the 
arrival  of  General  Robert  Hunter,  who  was 
transferred  from  Virginia,  June  14,  1710. 

The  governors  were  graciously  treated  by  the 
people  and  the  assembly.  When  Fletcher  ar- 
rived in  New  York,  he  was  welcomed  with  a 
"  treat  costing  £20,"  and  on  return  from  a  tour 
no  farther  than  the  Jerseys,  public  entertain- 
ment was  extended  to  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  salary  paid  to  Governor  Fletcher 
was  £780,  while  at  the  same  time  (1692)  Chief 
Justice  William  Smith  received  but  .£130. 
The  state  and  parade  of  some  of  the  titled  oc- 
cupants of  the  executive  chair,  notably  of  Lord 
Cornbury,  were  imposing  and  extravagant. 

In  so  young  a  colony,  with  all  its  struggles, 
and  with  inhabitants  with  fortunes  to  make, 
much  civility  and  social  outlay  would  hardly  be 
looked  for.  To  Captain  John  Miller,  who  was 
for  nearly  three  years  chaplain  to  his  Majesty's 
forces  in  the  province,  it  presented  in  1695  an 


218  NEW  YORK. 

aspect  sufficiently  rude.  Besides  tlie  Episcopal 
church  in  the  fort,  there  was  also  a  Reformed 
Dutch  church,  and  in  the  city  of  New  York  were 
a  large  French  Protestant  congregation,  one  of 
Dutch  Lutherans,  and  a  Jewish  synagogue, 
while  English  dissenters,  although  somewhat 
numerous,  had  no  meeting-house.  Long  Island 
had  meeting-houses  in  almost  every  town,  but 
the  ministers  were  Presbyterians  or  Indepen- 
dent, or  without  orders  at  all.  At  Albany  and 
Kingston  were  Reformed  Dutch  churches.  To 
the  grief  of  Captain  Miller,  voluntary  contribu- 
tions were  the  only  source  of  support  for  re- 
ligion, and  the  ministers  *'  did  more  harm  in 
distracting  and  dividing  the  people  than  good 
in  amending  their  lives  and  conversations." 
The  chaplain  pronounced  the  people  little  con- 
cerned about  religion,  inclined,  "  so  soon  as  the 
bounty  of  God  has  furnished  them  with  a  plen- 
tiful crop,  to  turn  the  money  into  drink,"  and  to 
"  ride  ten  or  twenty  miles  "  for  "  sottish  engage- 
ments." Like  habits  prevailed  in  New  York 
city,  where  "ruin  and  destruction  of  many 
merchants  "  followed  from  frequenting  taverns. 
The  marriage  relation  was  not  always  respected, 
separation  was  easy,  and  chastity  was  sometimes 
disregarded.  The  absence  of  ministers  of  his 
own  church.  Chaplain  Miller  deemed  the  cause 
of  these  evils,  and  perhaps  gave  depth  of  color 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         219 

to  his  statement ;  for  his  conclusion  is  that  "  the 
great,  most  proper  and  effectual  remedy  "  was 
to  "  send  over  a  bishop  to  the  province  of  New 
York,"  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor  on  a 
salary  of  £1,500,  with  the  king's  farm  as  an 
Episcopal  seat.  He  should  have  also  five  or  six 
sober  young  ministers,  with  Bibles  and  prayer- 
books.  But  the  chaplain  was  not  appointed 
bishop,  as  perhaps  would  have  been  every  way 
proper. 

Religious  activity  there  was,  however,  al- 
thougli  of  the  dissenting  sort  in  such  large 
measure,  and  not  without  the  practices  incident 
to  adventure  and  new  settlements.  The  move- 
ment so  vigorously  pressed  in  these  years,  for 
missions  among  the  Iroquois,  must  have  been 
inspired  in  no  small  degree  by  religious  zeal. 
Political  motives  there  were,  for  the  "  praying 
Indians,"  who  had  migrated  across  the  St.  Law- 
rence, gave  as  a  reason  for  removal  to  French 
jurisdiction  the  desire  for  religious  instruction  ; 
and  they  promised  in  1698  to  return  to  their 
castles,  if  good  teachers  should  be  furnished  to 
them  there.  Rev.  Godfrey  Dellius,  the  Dutch 
minister  at  Albany,  had  visited  the  Mohawks 
occasionally  for  several  years,  on  religious  mis- 
sions. Rev.  Bernard  Freeman,  also  a  minister 
of  the  Dutch  church,  in  1700  began  his  work 
in   Schenectady,  under  the  auspices  of  Gover- 


220  NEW  YORK. 

nor  Bellamont,  with  chief  regard  to  instruc- 
tion of  the  Mohawks.  During  the  five  years  of 
his  residence  he  learned  their  language,  and 
translated  into  it  the  liturgy  and  parts  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  He  testified  that 
thirty-six  of  the  Mohawks  had  embraced  the 
Christian  faith.  Rev.  Mr.  Lydius,  the  pastor  at 
Albany,  labored  zealously  among  the  Indian 
tribes.  The  first  missionary  of  the  Church  of 
England  sent  to  them  was  Thorougood  Moor, 
who  came  in  1704,  but  he  met  with  discourage- 
ments, and  after  beholding  the  promised  land 
from  Albany  withdrew  the  next  year.  The 
authorities  of  the  colony,  it  must  be  confessed, 
were  more  steady  and  urgent  for  mission  work 
among  the  Iroquois  than  the  clergymen  and 
churches  proved  to  be. 

The  question  of  revenue  was  the  first  for  each 
governor  in  turn  to  meet,  and  it  gave  rise  to  con- 
stant collisions  with  the  assembly,  both  con- 
cerning the  power  and  mode  of  raising  it  and 
the  control  of  its  expenditure.  The  amount 
raised  at  this  period,  for  a  population  of  twenty 
thousand,  scattered  from  New  York  to  Schenec- 
tady, was  less  than  some  of  the  minor  cities  of 
the  State  now  devote  to  their  fire  departments, 
and  less  than  one  fourth  what  they  expend 
for  lighting  streets.  In  1692,  the  total  revenue 
was  £3,202  17s.,  derived  from  customs,  excise, 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         221 

quit-rents,  weigh-house,  and  fines,  and  for  sev- 
eral years  the  average  was  about  the  same,  ex- 
cept as  special  appropriations  were  made  for 
military  purposes.  In  1700,  the  total  revenue 
and  from  like  sources  was  .£5,400,  and  did  not 
vary  greatly  for  several  subsequent  years. 

The  assembly,  when  Sloughter  first  sum- 
moned it,  voted  the  revenue  for  a  period  of  two 
years  ;  under  Fletcher  the  period  was  extended 
to  five  years,  under  Bellamont  to  six  years,  and 
under  Cornbury  to  seven  years.  This  last  ad- 
ministration was  well  calculated  to  show  the 
mischiefs  of  such  long  grants.  In  1711  and 
afterwards,  the  assembly  voted  only  annual  ap- 
propriations for  four  successive  years.  The 
assembly  in  1709,  and  again  in  1711,  voted,  in 
order  to  provide  for  an  expedition  against  Can- 
ada, to  issue  X  10,0 00  in  bills  of  credit,  and  they 
passed  into  circulation  as  money. 

Domestic  matters  well  deserved  attention, 
and  they  were  growing  to  a  magnitude  which,  if 
royal  governors  were  to  be  sent  out,  was  quite 
adequate  to  engross  all  their  energies.  Yet 
Fletcher's  jurisdiction  extended  over  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Delaware,  and  he  had  the  titular  com- 
mand of  the  militia  of  the  Jerseys  and  Connecti- 
cut. The  Earl  of  Bellamont  was  governor  also 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  Fletch- 
er's title  to  remembrance  lies  in  his  zeal  and 


222  NEW  YORK. 

activity  as  a  soldier,  which  was  recognized  by 
the  assembly  by  placing  at  his  disposal  <£ 6,000 
for  the  defense  of  the  frontier,  and  by  the  In- 
dians by  the  title  of  "  the  Great  Swift  Arrow." 
The  assembly  had  less  regard  for  his  wishes 
w^ien  he  sought  to  secure  provision  for  an  es- 
tablished ministry,  a  revenue  for  the  king  during 
life,  and  repairs  for  the  fort  in  New  York,  and 
the  erection  of  a  chapel.  A  quarrel  arose  over 
the  governor's  demand  for  authority  to  "  ap- 
prove and  collate,"  and  of  course  to  reject  min- 
isters, and  he  vigorously  scolded  the  legislators 
convened  before  him,  and  then  dissolved  the 
body.  The  act  as  passed  applied  to  four  coun- 
ties, and  contest  at  once  arose  over  its  construc- 
tion, which  was  not  settled,  by  a  formal  resolu- 
tion of  the  assembly,  "  that  the  vestrymen  and 
church- wardens  have  power  to  call  a  dissenting 
Protestant  minister,  and  that  he  is  to  be  main- 
tained as  the  act  directs."  The  claim  was 
long  urged  that  only  clergymen  of  the  Episcopal 
church  were  entitled  to  the  public  maintenance, 
and  in  fact  the  endowed  churches  generally  be- 
came attached  to  that  denomination.  Governor 
Fletcher,  although  such  a  champion  of  the  church 
under  State  care,  was  sent  to  England  under 
arrest  on  charges  of  malfeasance,  from  which  he 
was  never  relieved,  and  on  allegations  that  he 
was  a  partner  with  pirates  on  the  coast,  which 
were  never  verified. 


A  ENACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         223 

The  Earl  of  Bellamont  was  of  a  far  nobler 
type.  His  opening  speech  to  the  assembly 
gave  assurance  of  reform,  where  he  found  "a 
divided  people,  an  empty  purse,  a  few  miserable, 
naked,  half -starved  soldiers,  not  half  the  number 
the  king  allowed  pay  for  ;  the  fortifications  and 
even  the  governor's  house  very  much  out  of  re- 
pair, and  in  a  word  the  whole  government  out 
of  frame."  For  himself,  he  declared  :  "  I  will 
take  care  there  shall  be  no  misapplication  of  the 
public  money ;  I  will  pocket  none  of  it  myself, 
nor  shall  there  be  embezzlement  by  others." 
One  point  of  significance  about  the  attitude  of 
Bellamont  is,  that  he  at  once  dismissed  the  chief 
councilors,  and  brought  grave  charges  against 
some  of  them,  while  he  called  the  friends  of 
Leisler  about  him.  As  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  committee  in  parliament  which  favored 
the  reversal  of  the  act  of  attainder  on  Governor 
Leisler,  his  choice  of  supporters  from  that  side 
must  be  accepted  as  the  result  of  investigation 
and  deliberation.  Councilor  Nicoll  was  put 
under  bonds,  charged  with  collecting  money  for 
protecting  pirates.  Councilor  Bayard  was  sus- 
pended for  cause :  for  conniving  at  commis- 
sions to  pirates,  for  advising  "  Fletcher's  fre- 
quent embezzlements  of  the  king's  revenue," 
for  taking  to  himself  a  grant  of  land  belonging 
to  the  Mohawks  as  large  as  one  of  the  middle 


224  NEW  YORK. 

counties  of  England,  without  a  reasonable  quit- 
rent,  and  for  raising  scandalous  reports  against 
the  new  governor.  Bayard  responded  with  an 
elaborate  defense,  denying  several  of  the  charges 
and  justifying  the  acceptance  of  the  land  patent. 
His  case  was  only  one  of  many.  Land  began 
to  promise  large  returns,  and  speculation  reached 
out  for  vast  tracts.  Robert  Livingston,  who 
had  begun  his  career  in  Albany,  on  a  visit  to 
England  secured  grants  for  many  thousand 
acres  on  the  Hudson,  which  became  known  as 
Livingston's  Manor.  Transactions  with  the  red 
men  led  more  and  more  to  purchases  of  land, 
or  acquisitions  less  regular.  Clergymen  were 
members  of  combinations  such  as  would  now 
be  known  as  "Indian  rings  and  land  rings." 
Domine  Godfrey  Dellius,  the  Dutch  pastor  at 
Albany,  was  a  zealous  politician,  bitter  in  his 
hostility  to  Leisler,  and  yet  appointed  by  Leis- 
ler  a  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs.  He  was 
charged  with  fraudulently  securing  deeds  from 
the  red  men  for  vast  tracts.  Pinhorne,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council,  with  associates,  obtained 
patents  for  the  Mohawk  Valley,  two  miles  on 
each  side  of  the  river,  for  fifty  miles  along  its 
banks.  Peter  Schuyler  was  one  of  several  who, 
at  first  interested  in  buying  these  lands,  had 
withdrawn  from  the  transactions  on  account  of 
the  frauds  practiced.     The  courts  vacated  the 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION         225 

patents,  Delliiis  was  suspended  from  the  minis- 
try, and  a  temporary  check  was  given  to  the 
greed  of  the  land  jobbers.  But  the  vast  domain 
of  the  Iroquois  continued  to  offer  temptations, 
and  governors  and  officials  of  various  grades, 
and  capitalists,  small  and  large,  grasped  for  a 
share  of  it,  until  only  scanty  reservations  re- 
mained to  the  original  owners. 

Party  spirit  suffered  the  prosecution  against 
the  land  operators  to  lack  nothing  of  activity 
and  thoroughness.  They  had  been  leading 
opponents  to  Leisler,  while  a  reaction  in  his 
favor  set  in  when  Bellamont  came.  Leisler's 
remains  and  those  of  Milborne  were  disinterred 
in  1699,  were  exhibited  in  state,  and  were  re- 
buried  in  the  Dutch  church.  Acts  of  indemnity 
were  passed  for  such  of  this  party  as  had  not 
been  pardoned,  and  popular  favor  ran  strongly 
in  favor  of  what  was  styled  the  "  popular  cause." 

This  was  made  especially  manifest  in  1702 
by  the  arrest  and  trial  for  treason  of  Nicholas 
Bayard,  chief  in  influence  under  recent  gover- 
nors. He  was  arraigned  under  a  statute  en- 
acted by  his  procurement  in  1691,  aimed  against 
Leisler,  pronouncing  all  persons  "rebels  and 
traitors  "  who  should  by  arms  or  otherwise  "  dis- 
turb the  peace,  good  and  quiet "  of  the  colony. 
The  specification  was  that  in  an  address,  with 
warm  protestations  in  honor  of  Lord  Cornbury, 


226  NEW  YORK. 

already  appointed  governor,  but  not  arrived, 
he  had  joined  imputations  upon  Bellamont 
and  accused  Nanfan  of  bribing  the  assembly. 
With  him  was  brought  to  trial,  for  circulating 
the  address,  a  tavern-keeper  named  Hutch  ins. 
Chief  Justice  Atwood  and  two  associates  of  the 
supreme  court,  designated  to  preside  at  the  trial, 
were  avowedly  hostile,  as  was  the  prosecuting 
attorney ;  and  of  the  jurors  it  was  alleged,  one 
had  declared  that,  "  if  Bayard's  neck  were  gold, 
he  should  be  hanged."  An  indictment  was 
found,  but  Bayard's  son  objected  that  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  the  jurors  did  not  agree  to  it  ; 
that  those  who  did  w^ere  Dutch,  and  several  could 
"  neither  read  nor  write  nor  understand  the 
English  language."  He  objected,  too,  that  most 
of  the  petit  jury,  all  Dutch,  were  "handicraft 
and  laboring  men."  The  trial,  however,  pro- 
ceeded. Weaver,  the  solicitor,  appealed  to  the 
race  prejudice  of  the  jurors  by  accusing  Bayard 
and  his  English  associates  of  seeking  to  intro- 
duce popery,  and  as  a  nest  of  pirates,  and  di- 
rectly alleged  that  they  had  offered  Bellamont 
<£  10,000  "  to  connive  at  their  piracies,  and  XI 00 
to  himself  to  solicit  it.''  Both  prisoners  were 
convicted  under  the  indictment,  and  they  were 
sentenced  to  be  punished  for  high  treason. 
Hutchins  was  released  on  bail,  but  Bayard  was 
kept  in  prison  until  Lord    Cornbury    arrived. 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         227 

Then  the  chief  justice  and  solicitor,  in  fear  of 
their  lives,  fled  to  England,  although  they  had 
been  appointed  members  of  Lord  Cornbury's 
council.  All  the  proceedings  against  the  prison- 
ers were  nullified,  and  the  statute  under  which 
they  were  conducted  was  repealed,  by  order  of 
Queen  Anne. 

Connivance  at  piracy  was  a  charge  not  infre- 
quent against  prominent  persons  in  the  colonies 
at  this  time.  Privateering  was  encouraged  by 
the  government,  and  reputable  persons  became 
partners  in  vessels  sent  out  under  daring  sailors 
to  seize  prizes.  The  sailors  did  not  always  ob- 
serve nice  distinctions  when  rich  captures  were 
possible,  and  privateering  not  infrequently  fell 
more  and  more  into  audacious  piracy.  This 
was  the  case  with  William  Kidd,  whom  the 
ballad  represents  as  confessing,  "  most  wickedly 
I  did,"  and  whose  career  is  closely  connected 
with  New  York.  He  was  a  navigator  who  won 
confidence  and  fame.  In  1691  he  was  employed 
by  the  council,  and  the  assembly  on  its  restora- 
tion voted  hira  .£150  "for  many  good  services 
done  to  the  province."  During  the  war  with 
Spain,  a  vessel  was  provided  for  him  for  priva- 
teering, and  King  William,  the  Earl  of  Bella- 
mont,  Robert  Livingston,  and  others  in  Eng- 
land and  New  York,  were  shareholders.  He 
swept  the  seas   with  little  regard   to   laws   of 


228  NEW  YORK. 

property,  and  his  achievements  became  the 
theme  of  story  and  invention.  He  captured 
considerable  treasure,  which  he  turned  to  his 
own  use,  and  some  of  it  he  buried  on  Gardi- 
ner's Island.  '*  Kidd's  treasures  "  have  tempted 
speculators  to  dive  and  dig  at  various  points, 
from  the  exaggerations  which  have  found  ready 
currency.  He  cannot  have  deemed  himself  a 
criminal  in  any  great  degree,  if  at  all ;  for  after 
selling  his  ship  he  appeared  openly  in  Boston, 
where  the  Earl  of  Bellamont  recognized  him 
and  put  him  under  arrest.  He  was  sent  to 
England,  and  put  on  trial  for  murder  and  piracy 
under  a  law  specially  enacted  to  supply  a  defi- 
ciency in  the  statutes  which  did  not  cover  such 
transactions  as  he  had  been  engaged  in.  The 
Earl  of  Bellamont  was  accused  of  partnership 
with  Kidd,  as  he  was  in  fact  with  the  king  and 
others  in  privateering,  but  not  in  piracy.  An 
investigation  in  parliament  gave  signs  that  New 
York  merchants  pressed  the  charge  against 
Bellamont,  because  as  governor  he  had  shown 
vigor  in  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade. 

Lord  Cornbury,  who  became  Earl  of  Claren- 
don, held  a  higher  rank  at  home  than  the  Irish 
peer  Bellamont.  But  he  was  impoverished  by 
his  vices,  intent  on  gain  without  regard  to 
methods,  and  possessed  little  capacity  for  ad- 
ministration.    He  threw  liimself  into  the  arms 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION.         229 

of  the  aristocratic  party,  and  was  at  once  con- 
spicuous for  his  zeal  for  the  Episcopal  church. 
He  insisted  that  no  preachers  or  teachers  should 
practice  their  vocation  without  a  license  from 
the  bishop  of  London.  In  Jamaica,  a  contest 
arose  between  the  original  Dutch  settlers  and 
the  Episcopalians  of  the  town  for  the  possession 
of  a  church  edifice,  and  resulted  in  violence. 
The  governor  sustained  the  Episcopalians,  and 
having  borrowed  the  parsonage  house  of  the 
Presbyterian  minister  for  his  own  use,  deceit- 
fully handed  it  over  to  the  sheriff  and  the  Epis- 
copalians, who  held  it  for  their  denomination. 
The  temper  of  administration  and  people  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  trial  of  Francis  McKemie, 
a  dissenting  minister,  for  unlawfully  preaching 
without  a  license,  and  for  using  other  ceremonies 
than  those  prescribed  by  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  The  claim  was  urged  by  the  prosecu- 
tion that  the  governor's  directions  had  the  force 
of  law,  and  that  the  statutes  of  uniformity  ap- 
plied to  the  province.  For  the  defense  this  was 
denied,  and  it  was  insisted  that  preaching  was 
no  crime  by  the  common  law.  McKemie  closed 
the  argument  for  himself  with  such  effect  that 
he  was  acquitted,  and  yet  by  some  legal  device 
he  was  not  discharged  until  he  paid  the  fees 
for  his  prosecution.  The  doctrine  of  religious 
liberty  was  asserted  with  a  force  and  clearness 


230  NEW  YORK. 

worthy  of  any  tribunal  in  any  age.  And  yet 
an  act  passed  in  1700  was  on  the  statute  books, 
providing  for  the  hanging  of  every  "popish 
priest  "  who  came  voluntarily  into  the  province. 
The  province  had  grievous  occasion  to  learn 
that  Lord  Cornbury  was  a  spendthrift  even 
more  than  a  zealot.  As  soon  as  the  assembly 
was  organized,  as  it  was  by  the  party  to  which 
he  allied  himself,  it  granted  him  <£l,800for  the 
defense  of  the  frontiers,  and  made  a  personal 
gift  of  X  2,000  for  the  expenses  of  his  voyage. 
Although  a  like  gift  of  <£  1,500  had  been  made 
to  Bellamont  and  <£500  to  his  lieutenant,  this 
liberality  was  so  scandalous  that  Queen  Anne 
forbade  any  more  such  donations.  But  Corn- 
bury  was  not  content  even  with  this  lavishness. 
He  diverted  to  his  own  use  <£  1,000  of  the  ap- 
propriation for  the  frontiers,  and  £1,500  raised 
for  batteries  at  the  Narrows.  His  waste  and 
greed  brought  him  into  collision  with  the  as- 
sembly. He  sought  to  prolong  his  power  by  a 
claim  of  the  right  of  the  council  to  amend  money 
bills,  which  was  promptly  rejected,  and  the  as- 
sembly passed  a  series  of  resolutions  denouncing 
as  a  "  great  grievance  for  any  officer  to  extort 
any  money  whatsoever  not  positively  estab- 
lished," as  also  was  it  to  "  compel  any  man  upon 
trial  to  pay  any  fees  "  beyond  his  own  counsel. 
It  was  pronounced  a  "  great  discouragement  to 


A  REACTION  IN  ADMINISTRATION,         231 

trade,  to  screw  excessive  sums  from  masters  of 
vessels,"  and  to  send  to  vessels  "  supernumerary 
officers  taking  extraordinary  fees."  The  prin- 
ciple was  plainly  declared  further,  "  that  the 
imposing  and  levying  of  any  moneys  upon  her 
Majesty's  subjects  of  this  colony  under  any  pre- 
tense or  color  whatsoever,  without  consent  in 
general  assembly,  is  a  grievance  and  a  violation 
of  the  people's  property."  This  resolution  was 
elaborated  in  an  address  previously  presented  to 
the  governor,  in  which  these  eloquent  words 
were  used :  "  Whatsoever  else  may  admit  of 
controversy,  the  people  of  this  colony  think  they 
have  an  undoubted,  true,  and  entire  property 
in  their  goods  and  estates,  of  which  they  ought 
not  to  be  divested  but  by  their  free  consent,  in 
such  manner,  to  such,  ends  and  purposes,  as  they 
shall  think  fit,  and  not  otherwise."  Possibly 
such  misconduct  as  that  of  Cornbury  was  re- 
quired to  call  forth  such  enduring  expression 
of  popular  rights.  New  Jersey,  also  under  the 
same  governor,  appealed  for  his  removal.  Queen 
Anne  listened  to  the  cry,  although  Cornbury 
was  her  cousin.  His  creditors  thrust  him  into 
prison,  but  his  earldom  of  Clarendon  now  fell 
to  him,  and  by  its  privileges  he  was  released  to 
go  home,  carrying  with  him  the  contempt  of 
the  colonists. 


CHAPT:f:R  XV. 

A  DECADE  OF  DEVELOPMENT. 
1708-1720. 

The  province  was  slowly  growing  in  popu- 
lation in  the  years  following  Leisler's  rebellion. 
Governor  Hunter  in  1716  "  cannot  say  that  the 
inhabitants  increase  as  in  the  neighboring  prov- 
inces, where  the  purchase  of  land  is  easier." 
He  adds  that  "  great  numbers  of  the  younger 
sort  leave  Long  Island  yearly  to  plant  in  the 
Jerseys  and  Pennsylvania."  From  the  interior 
of  New  York  settlers  were  practically  excluded 
by  the  hostility  of  the  Canadians.  Yet  the 
militia,  which  Colonel  Fletcher  reported  at 
2,923  in  1693,  Governor  Hunter  officially  stated 
to  be  6,000  in  1720,  owing  probably  in  part  to 
closer  enlistments.  The  population  in  1720  was 
reported  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  at  27,000  whites 
and  4,000  blacks.  The  total  population  for  all 
the  colonies  was  434,600. 

Negroes  were  systematically  imported  into 
New  York  by  private  traders.     In  1701,  1,014 


A  DECADE    OF  DEVELOPMENT.  233 

were  brought  in  from  the  West  Indies  and  626 
from  Africa ;  but  this  was  an  exceptional  year, 
for  from  that  time  to  1726  the  importation  was 
1,573  from  the  West  Indies  and  828  from  Africa. 
They  became  the  cause  of  alarm  and  cruelty. 
They  were  aliens,  not  closely  identified  with 
the  families  whom  they  served,  and  were  the 
object  of  the  race  hatred,  then  much  more  in- 
tense than  now.  In  1712  New  York  was  stirred 
with  rumors  of  organized  insurrection,  and  sus- 
picion welcomed  and  exaggerated  every  charge. 
One  house  was  burned,  and  several  whites  were 
killed.  The  vengeance  was  prompt  and  sweep- 
ing. Many  negroes  were  arrested,  and  nine- 
teen were  tried  and  executed.  The  assembly 
passed  an  act  for  preventing,  suppressing,  and 
punishing  the  conspiracy  and  insurrection  of 
negroes,  and  thus  illustrated  the  dread  which 
prevailed  and  the  severity  on  which  depend- 
ence was  placed. 

Trade  was  extending  in  various  directions, 
especially  with  the  Indians.  From  1717  to 
1720,  the  total  imports  averaged  X  21, 254  a 
year,  against  exports  of  X52,239,  including  furs 
valued  at  X 8,44 3.  The  British  merchants  did 
not  receive  the  benefits  which  they  desired  from 
the  trade  of  the  colony.  The  device  which  was 
suggested  to  help  them,  in  addition  to  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  navigation  laws,   was  the 


234  NEW  YORK. 

restriction  of  all  forms  of  manufactures  in  this 
as  in  the  other  colonies,  and  the  fostering  of 
the  production  of  naval  stores.  Caleb  Heath- 
cote,  a  member  of  the  council,  wrote  in  1708 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  London,  referring  to 
former  urgent  correspondence :  "  My  proposal 
was  to  divert  the  Americans  from  going  on  with 
their  linen  and  woolen  manufactories,  and  to 
turn  tlKiir  thoughts  on  such  things  as  might  be 
beneficial  to  Great  Britain.  They  are  already 
so  far  advanced  in  their  manufactories  that 
three-fourths  of  the  linen  and  woolen,  especially 
of  the  coarser  sort  they  use,  is  made  amongst 
them."  He  feared  "  they  would  carry  it  on  a 
great  deal  further,"  although  he  was  exerting 
"  all  his  interest  and  skill  to  prevent  the  mak- 
ing of  fine  stuffs."  His  apprehension  led  him 
into  some  exaggeration,  for  Governor  Hunter 
in  1715  declared  that  very  few  in  New  York 
or  Albany  wore  American  fabrics  ;  and  of  the 
colony  at  large  he  said  :  '"  Few  that  are  able  to 
go  to  the  expense  of  English  manufacture  we-dv 
homespun,  and  a  law  to  oblige  such  as  are  not 
able  to  go  to  that  expense  to  do  it  under  penal- 
ties, would  be  equivalent  to  a  law  to  compel 
them  to  go  naked."  He  agreed  with  Heathcote 
in  advocating  a  policy  for  producing  naval 
stores,  "  because  these  provinces  raise  much 
more  than  serves  for  their   own    consumption 


A  DECADE   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  235 

and  that  of  the  West  Indies,"  and  except  in 
naval  stores  he  saw  "  no  solid  way  to  prevent 
the  decay  of  trade." 

Zeal  to  develop  the  production  of  naval  stores, 
with  a  thrifty  eye  to  profits,  prompted  Governor 
Hunter  in  1711  to  enter  upon  a  large  scheme 
for  introducing  laborers  into  the  province.  He 
found  them  in  the  German  districts  known  as 
the  Palatinate,  where  the  French  had  ravaged 
the  country  and  impoverished  the  people.  He 
secured  from  the  British  government  a  grant 
of  £10,000  for  the  project,  and  entered  into  a 
contract  to  transport  the  immigrants,  and  to 
maintain  them  for  a  while,  in  return  for  their 
labor.  The  number  is  commonly  stated  at 
3,000  persons,  but  authorities  differ  on  the 
subject.  At  a  hearing  in  London,  in  1720,  a 
committee  of  the  Palatines,  as  they  were  called, 
placed  the  original  migration  at  between  3,000 
and  4,000,  and  Governor  Nicholson  placed  it  at 
3,200.  Statistics  show  that  2,227  Vent  upon 
the  lands  provided  upon  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 
son, while  357  remained  in  New  York.  These 
came  in  two  shipments  about  the  same  time, 
while  a  third  immigration  occurred  in  1722. 
Their  coming  was  a  marked  event,  for  it  added 
nearly  ten  per  cent,  to  the  total  population. 
The  first  Palatines,  except  such  as  remained  in 
New  York,  located  on  both  sides  of  the  Hudson, 


236  NEW  YORK. 

"  about  a  hundred  miles  up,"  as  Governor 
Hunter  says,  in  five  villages,  three  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  on  lands  belonging  to  Robert 
Livingston,  and  two  on  royal  lands  on  the  west 
side.  They  were  to  produce  tar  and  turpentine. 
Governor  Hunter  contracted  with  Livingston 
to  furnish  bread  and  beer  to  them,  and  trusted 
to  local  overseers.  Trouble  soon  began.  It 
was  alleged  that  money  promised  was  not  paid 
to  the  immigrants,  that  the  land  was  barren, 
and  that  enough  food  was  not  provided.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  complaints  were  loud  and  long, 
and  the  Palatines  within  the  year  refused  to 
do  the  work  required  of  them,  and  wished  to 
move  to  other  lands.  They  organized  a  strike, 
and  Governor  Hunter  went  among  them  with 
troops  to  subdue  them  and  enforce  his  con- 
tracts. He  found  that  his  receipts  were  far 
from  meeting  his  outlays.  In  July,  1712,  he 
cut  off  the  supply  of  beer  from  all  except  men 
actually  engaged  in  work,  and  the  following 
September  he  notified  them  that  '^  everyone 
must  shift  for  himself,  but  not  outside  of  the 
province."  He  declared  that  his  money  and 
credit  were  gone,  and  later  investigations  prove 
that  the  enterprise  involved  a  loss  of  X 20,000. 
His  accounts  and  conduct  were  long  in  contro- 
versy. In  England  the  Palatines  did  not  com- 
mand the  sympathy  which  their  appeals  sought 


A  DECADE   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  237 

to  arouse,  because  it  was  urged  that  in  a  new 
country  a  livelihood  was  easily  gained.  Lord 
Clarendon  said  "  that  every  person  who  will 
work,  man  or  woman,  above  fifteen  years  of  age, 
may  earn  2s.  Sd.  a  day  in  New  York  money, 
that  is  ISd.  sterling;  while  handicraftsmen, 
joiners,  masons,  blacksmiths,  and  the  like,  may 
earn  5s.  a  day."  The  fallacy  was  that  theoe 
people  had  mortgaged  their  wages,  and  were 
crippled  by  their  contracts. 

The  red  men  offered  the  Palatines  land  in 
Schoharie  on  easy  terms,  and  thither  many  of 
them  soon  removed  and  created  a  settlement. 
Some  at  different  periods,  and  a  hundred  fam- 
ilies in  1722,  with  additions  from  the  third 
migration,  found  homes  in  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
where  Palatine  Bridge  and  the  town  of  German 
Flats  and  their  original  patent  of  Stone  Arabia 
preserve  their  memory.  The  contract  system, 
and  not  the  character  of  the  Palatines,  was  the 
cause  of  the  failure  of  Governor  Hunter's 
migration  scheme.  As  independent  laborers 
the  immigrants  proved  themselves  industrious, 
thrifty,  and  prosperous,  and  they  became  useful 
and  in  many  cases  eminent  members  of  the 
community,  and  their  numerous  descendants 
perpetuate  their  virtues. 

Settlement  was  advancing  up  the  Mohawk 
Valley  with   slow  but   sure    steps.     Tradition 


238  NEW  YORK. 

locates  Hendrick  Frey,  a  native  of  Zurich, 
Switzerland,  west  of  Palatine  Bridge  before 
1700.  In  1712  Fort  Hunter  was  built  at  the 
mouth  of  Schoharie  Creek,  and  in  the  succeed- 
ing year  a  like  centre  for  trade  and  defense 
was  constructed  at  Onondaga.  These  forts 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  square,  with 
blockhouses,  and  served  for  small  garrisons, 
while  they  became  the  resort  of  traders  and 
the  nucleus  of  a  few  daring  pioneers.  The 
Dutch  current  spent  its  main  force  not  far 
from  Fort  Plain,  where  the  Palatines  estab- 
lished their  lines,  and  opened  and  held  the 
route  by  the  Mohawk  for  adventure  and  traffic. 
The  movements  against  Canada  from  the  ad- 
vent of  Frontenac  lost  the  character  of  opera- 
tions by  New  York  alone.  Virginia  found  its 
interests  in  the  west  threatened  by  French  ag- 
gression, and  New  England  actually  suffered 
from  invasion.  Yet  New  York  was  by  its  posi- 
tion most  frequently  assailed,  and  by  reason  of 
its  intimate  relations  with  the  Iroquois  was  the 
chief  reliance  for  any  campaign,  whether  of  as- 
sault or  defense.  Since  it  had  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  conflicts,  it  asked  the  other  colonies  for 
contributions  to  a  common  fund.  The  request 
was  obviously  equitable.  It  was  not  always 
met  with  generosity,  althougli  with  some  quib- 
bling and  delay  response  was  made,  frequently 


A  BE  CADE   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  239 

with  a  condition  that  the  command  of  expe- 
ditions should  be  yielded.  The  concession  was 
costly,  as  the  event  proved.  Possibly  failure  in 
such  expeditions  was  inevitable,  but  in  New 
York  it  was  attributed  to  the  leadership  of  men 
not  familiar  with  the  kind  of  warfare  needed, 
as  when  in  1693  Phips,  of  Massachusetts,  over 
the  fleet,  and  General  Winthrop  over  the  land 
forces,  met  with  disaster ;  and  even  greater 
shame  was  incurred  in  1710,  when  an  expe- 
dition for  which  New  York  had  made  prepa- 
rations was  abandoned,  and  in  1711,  when  a 
movement  met  with  an  utter  failure.  Then 
Governor  Nicholson,  of  Virginia,  led  an  army 
of  4,000  men,  cooperating  with  a  British  fleet 
under  Walker,  which  was  wrecked  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Great  Britain  rendered  New 
York  a  greater  service  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
than  it  did  by  military  or  naval  resources ;  for 
peace,  even  though  transient,  was  of  priceless 
value. 

The  preparations  for  the  campaign  of  1711 
afford  a  glimpse  of  the  markets  and  prices  of 
the  period.  Commissioners  were  appointed  to 
purchase  provisions,  and  they  were  allowed  to 
pay  not  exceeding  £3  ''for  each  barrel  of  good, 
firm  pork  well  saved,  31^  gallons  ; "  5s.  per 
bushel  for  peas  ;  8d.  per  pound  for  bacon  ;  7d. 
for  buttock  ^  beef,  smoked  ;   6d.  for  cheese ; 


240  NEW  YORK. 

2s.  6d.  per  bushel  for  Indian  corn  ;  17s.  Qd.  per 
hundred  for  "  well-baked  biscuit,  made  of  meal, 
as  comes  from  the  mill,  with  all  the  flour,  only 
the  bran  taken  out,  without  mixture  of  Cor- 
nell; "  and  3s.  6d.  per  gallon  for  rum.  The 
articles  bought  for  the  soldiers,  and  their  cost, 
let  light  into  the  larders  and  upon  the  tables  of 
many  of  the  colonists. 

The  burdens  which  the  expeditions  against 
Canada  had  cast  upon  New  York  were  very 
heavy.  It  was  to  meet  them  that  it  first  issued 
paper  money.  In  1714,  to  pay  debts  incurred 
chiefly  in  these  expeditions,  a  new  issue  of  bills 
of  credit  was  authorized  to  the  amount  of 
£28,000.  In  1717  another  issue  of  X48,000 
was  ordered,  on  like  pretexts,  and  for  claims  for 
services  running  back  thirty  years  which  had 
only  lately  been  discovered.  The  ugly  Aspect 
is  that  nearly  all  of  the  claims  allowed  were 
in  the  name  of  partisans  of  Governor  Hunter. 
With  such  methods  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
general  assembly  voted  the  revenue  for  five 
years,  breaking  down  the  precedent  of  annual 
appropriations.  In  our  own  days  the  scheme 
of  the  sweeping  allowance  of  resurrected  claims 
would  be  denounced  as  a  corrupt  job.  The 
grand  jury  then  remonstrated,  as  well  it  might, 
against  the  issue  of  the  paper  money,  for  the 
bills  were  current  at  the  rate  of  three  for  one  in 


A  DECADE  OF  DEVELOPMENT.  241 

coin ;  its  members  were  reprimanded  for  their 
pains.  The  home  government  forbade  the  is- 
sue of  any  further  paper  money  except  for  cur- 
rent expenses  of  the  colony. 

Robert  Hunter  is  one  of  the  most  marked 
figures  on  the  list  of  roj^al  governors  of  New 
York,  and,  except  George  Clinton,  his  admin- 
istration covers  the  longest  period,  extending 
over  nine  years.  He  was  by  birth  Scotch,  by 
training  a  soldier,  by  taste  and  habit  devoted 
to  literature  and  literary  men,  and  known  as  a 
friend  of  Addison  and  Swift.  By  his  career 
under  King  William  and  Marlborough,  he  had 
won  the  rank  of  major-general,  and  by  mar- 
riage with  a  peeress  he  had  established  con- 
nections which  gave  him  political  promotion. 
In  1707  he  had  been  appointed  governor  of 
Virginia,  but  was  captured  by  the  French  and 
taken  back  to  Europe.  When  in  1710  he  came 
to  New  York,  he  reported  that  it  had  "the 
finest  air  to  live  upon,  but  not  for  me ;  for 
according  to  the  customs  of  the  country,  the 
sachems  are  the  poorest  of  the  people,"  and  he 
pathetically  exclaims,  "  Sajicho  Panza  was  a 
type  of  me."  His  administration  was  in  many 
respects  successful,  and  he  has  not  been  charged 
with  enriching  himself,  although  the  assembly 
in  which  his  friends  were  dominant  passed  ex- 
travagant, wasteful,  and  corrupt  measures,  to 
which  he  gave  his  approval. 


242  NEW  YORK. 

He  was  himself  a  communicant  in  tlie  Epis- 
copal Church,  but  he  did  not  satisfy  its  clergy 
in  enforcing  the  law  for  the  maintenance  of 
ministers,  and  in  Jamaica  he  was  charged  with 
favoring  the  dissenters.  His  fault  was  that  he 
tried  to  be  tolerant  and  even-handed,  and  rea- 
sonable members  of  his  own  church  sustained 
him.  Lewis  Morris,  with  a  vision  worthy  of  a 
statesman,  pointed  out  that  in  Pennsylvania 
the  Episcopal  Church  was,  without  legislative 
support,  much  stronger  than  in  New  York,  and 
argued  that  here  "she  would  be  in  much  better 
condition  if  there  were  no  law  in  her  favor," 
and  he  showed  that  the  statute  was  open  to  a 
construction  recognizing  all  denominations  for 
maintenance.  He  dwelt  cynically  on  the  ex- 
tent of  dissent  here,  for  "as  in  New  England 
the  greatest  part  of  the  people,  except  a  few 
families,  was  the  scum  of  the  old,  so  in  this 
province  the  greatest  part  of  the  English  is  the 
scum  of  the  new."  The  evidence  he  cited  was 
their  tendency  to  other  religious  faith  and  prac- 
tice than  his  own. 

In  the  main.  Governor  Hunter  managed  to 
get  on  in  his  position  with  comparative  quiet 
and  harmony.  Yet  it  was  not  without  under- 
standing the  temper  and  drift  of  the  people. 
As  early  as  1711  he  wrote  to  St.  John,  after- 
wards Lord   Bolingbroke  :    "  The  colonies  are 


A  DECADE  OF  DEVELOPMENT.  243 

infants  at  their  mother's  breasts,  but  such  as 
will  wean  themselves  when  they  become  of 
age."  In  that  year  the  assembly  denied  the 
authority  of  parliament  to  tax  the  colony,  and 
of  the  council  to  amend  money  bills,  while  it 
asserted  its  own  "inherent  right  to  act  not 
from  grant  of  the  crown,  but  from  the  free 
choice  of  the  people,  who  ought  not,  nor  justly 
can  be  divested  of  their  property  without  their 
consent."  The  Lords  of  Trade  declared  that  the 
claim  "  tended  to  independency  of  the  crown." 
The  logic  was  inevitable,  as  events  were  mov- 
ing on  to  prove. 

Governor  Hunter  himself  opened  a  new  chan- 
nel for  such  events,  by  establishing  a  court  of 
chancery  in  1712,  and  thus  began  the  education 
of  the  province  in  a  jurisprudence  which  has 
been  one  of  its  marked  features.  The  courts 
of  the  justices  of  the  peace,  of  sessions,  of  com- 
mon pleas,  and  the  supreme  court  did  not 
wholly  meet  the  views  of  the  governor.  By 
advice  of  the  council,  without  consulting  the 
assembly,  he  set  up  all  the  machinery  of  a 
court  of  chancery,  of  which  he  was  chancel- 
lor, and  appointed  masters,  an  examiner,  a 
register  and  clerks.  The  scheme  promised  con- 
siderable returns  in  fees,  while  it  added  largely 
to  the  power  of  the  governor,  and  to  the  same 
degree  diminished  the  authority  of  the  assem- 


244  NEW  YORK. 

bly.  The  Lords  of  Trade  sustained  the  claim 
that  the  power  to  establish  courts  belonged  to 
the  crown.  The  assembly  asserted  its  own 
rights  in  behalf  of  the  people,  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  courts  from  executive  control 
became  one  of  the  principles  for  which  the 
province  struggled,  and  to  which  various  inci- 
dents gave  especial  prominence.  Such  a  prin- 
ciple was,  in  addition  to  power  over  the  revenue, 
one  of  the  branches  of  the  doctrine  of  self- 
government  which  New  York  was  working  out 
so  thoroughly. 

When  Governor  Hunter,  June  24,  1719,  an- 
nounced his  purpose  to  take  a  leave  of  ab- 
sence, his  addi'ess  to  the  assembly  was  ver^^ 
cordial.  "  The  very  name  of  party  or  faction 
seems  to  be  forgotten,"  he  said,  and  he  ex- 
pressed a  wish  coupled  with  praise :  "  May  no 
strife  ever  happen  among  you,  but  that  laud- 
able emulation  who  shall  approve  himself  the 
most  zealous  servant  and  most  dutiful  subject 
of  the  best  of  princes,  and  most  useful  member 
of  a  well-established  and  flourishing  community 
of  which  you  have  given  a  happy  example." 
The  answer  was  even  more  glowing  in  compli- 
ment to  the  "  just,  mild  and  tender  administra- 
tion "  which  was  closing,  and  assured  Genera] 
Hunter,  "  You  have  governed  well  and  wisely, 
like  a  prudent  magistrate,  like  an  affectionate 


A  DECADE   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  245 

parent,"  and  a  shower  of  good  wishes  followed 
for  "  our  countryinan."  He  returned  to  Eng-. 
land,  and  received  the  appointment  which  he 
desired,  on  account  of  a  climate  better  fitted 
for  his  faihng  health,  of  Governor  of  Jamaica, 
where  he  died  in  1734.  His  success  in  New 
York  was  in  no  slight  degree  owing  to  his  in- 
timacy with  the  strong  men  who  were  devel- 
oped as  the  real  leaders.  He  won  the  confi- 
dence of  most  of  them,  and  he  had  the  tact 
which  court  favorites  did  not  possess,  of  enlist- 
ing their  talents  for  the  province,  and  of  secur- 
ing their  cooperation  with  himself  personally. 

In  the  generation  divided  by  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  Peter  Schuyler 
stands  forth  as  the  most  prominent  New 
Yorker.  He  was  designated  under  the  charter 
granted  by  Governor  Dongan  as  mayor  of  Al- 
bany, and  he  served  in  that  capacity  for  more 
than  eight  years.  He  led  the  movement  against 
Leisler  at  that  point,  and  was  commander  of 
the  fort,  but  was  nevertheless  retained  as  mayor 
on  the  recognition  of  that  governor's  authority. 
He  was  called  into  the  provincial  council  in 
1692  under  Governor  Fletcher,  and  long  served 
in  that  body.  He  was  lieutenant  of  a  troop  of 
horse  as  early  as  1684,  and  was  colonel  of  the 
Albany  county  militia  in  1700.  He  was  urged 
for  commander  of  the  movement  against  Canada 


246  NEW  YORK. 

ill  1693,  and  was  admitted  to  be  the  foremost 
soldier  of  the  province.  His  exploits  dining 
the  campaigns  of  Frontenac,  when  he  was  the 
chief  in  command  of  the  colonists,  endeared 
him  to  red  men  and  whites.  As  a  commis- 
sioner of  Indian  afl'airs  he  was  of  tbe  utmost 
service.  He  welcomed  the  red  men  to  his  home 
and  table,  and  won  and  held  their  confidence,  so 
that  his  presence  was  for  a  generation  essential 
to  a  successful  conference  with  the  Iroquois. 
They  knew  him  as  Brother  Qaider,  and  he  bad 
trust  in  them  and  friendship  for  them.  His 
views  were  broad  and  sagacious.  His  convic- 
tion that  dangers  were  threatened  from  Canada 
was  prompted  by  intelligence  secured  from  the 
red  men,  and  his  counsel  was  zealous  and  per- 
sistent to  guard  against  such  dangeis  by  carry- 
ing the  assault  across  the  St.  Lawrence.  To 
enlist  the  British  government  in  this  policy, 
and  to  counteract  the  discouragement  conse- 
quent on  the  abandonment  of  the  proposed  ex- 
pedition, he  went  to  England  in  1710  at  his 
own  expense,  and  took  with  him  five  Iroquois 
chiefs,  whose  visit  created  gc  neral  and  lasting 
interest  among  tlie  Englisli  people.  Upon  his 
departure  for  his  voyage,  the  general  assembly 
passed  unanimously  a  resolution  accrediting 
him  to  the  queen,  as  "  a  person  who  not  only  in 
the  last  war,  when  he  commanded  the  forces  of 


A  DECADE   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  247 

this  colony  in  chief  in  Canada,  but  also  in  the 
present,  has  performed  faithful  services  to  this 
and  neighboring  colonies,  and  behaved  himself 
in  the  offices  with  which  he  has  been  intrusted 
with  good  reputation,  and  the  general  satisfac- 
tion of  the  people  in  these  parts."  The  British 
court  gave  heed  to  Schuyler's  argument ;  but 
the  expedition  ordered  for  the  ensuing  year,  by 
sea  and  land,  added  another  to  the  series  of 
faihires,  and  charges  are  on  record  that  the 
British  ministry  was  responsible  by  neglect  or 
jobbery.  Schuyler's  policy  was  postponed  by 
the  peace  between  Britain  and  France,  but  no 
British  minister  and  no  colonial  authority  gave 
it  up  until  it  was  finally  carried  out  to  a  tri- 
umphant result.  In  New  York  Schuyler  re- 
tained and  extended  his  influence,  and  when 
Governor  Hunter  retired,  he  became,  as  pres- 
ident of  the  council,  acting  governor  of  the 
province.  As  such  he  was  called  to  meet  the 
renewed  activity  of  the  French  and  the  Iro- 
quois. Chevalier  Joncaire,  a  skillful  and  dan- 
gerous emissary,  had  been  adopted  by  the 
Onondagas,  and  was  never  idle  in  stirring  up 
the  tribes  in  the  interest  of  France.  Schuyler 
urged  the  Iroquois  to  exclude  him  from  among 
them.  He  could  not  secure  this  point,  but  a 
new  treaty  with  the  red  men  marked  his  brief 
occupancy  of   the   executive    office.     Schuyler 


248  NEW  YORK. 

was  born  in  Albany,  the  son  of  another  Peter 
Schuyler,  an  immigrant  from  Holland,  whose 
descendants  were  many,  and  their  services  to 
the  province  and  to  the  Union  precious  and 
.enduring.  Peter's  nephew,  Philip  Schuyler, 
soon  to  come  upon  the  stage,  adoins  our  an- 
nals as  commanding  general,  and  a  senator  of 
the  United  States.  Peter  Schuyler's  second 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  Petrus  van  Rensselaer. 
The  several  branches  of  the  Schuyler  family 
intermarried  with  the  Hamiltons,  Livingstons, 
the  Van  Cortlandts,  and  other  influential  per- 
sons, and  continued  very  strong  in  social  and 
political  position  for  a  long  period. 

Associated  with  Schuyler  for  many  years, 
and  allied  to  him  by  marriage,  was  Robert 
Livingston,  son  of  a  Scotch  preacher,  who,  for 
conscience'  sake,  had  fled  to  Rotterdam.  Town 
clerk  of  Albany,  and  commissioner  of  Indian 
aff'airs,  he  took  part  in  the  Albany  movement 
against  Leisler,  was  arrested  and  outlawed  by 
him,  and  in  turn  favored  his  execution,  and 
was  denounced  by  name  by  Milborne  from  the 
gallows.  In  London,  however,  he  advised  the 
reversal  of  the  act  of  attainder,  and  ssdvocated 
at  home  indemnity  to  the  associate  rebels. 
George  I.  in  1715  confirmed  to  him  a  grant 
of  land  which  he  had  received  under  Governor 
Dongan,  included  in   Dutchess  and  Columb'a 


A  DECADE  OF  DEVELOPMENT.  249 

counties  as  they  now  are,  and  established  the 
manor  and  lordship  of  Livingston.  While  he 
supported  Bellamont  and  was  his  close  friend, 
Livingston  joined  with  Schuyler  in  seeking  to 
make  William  Smith,  senior  councilor,  acting 
governor  to  the  exclusion  of  Nanfan.  To  pun- 
ish him  for  this  course,  a  partisan  prosecution 
was  waged  for  his  removal  from  his  office  of 
commissioner  of  Indian  affairs,  and  for  an  al- 
leged deficiency  of  £28,000.  But  he  triumphed 
over  his  enemies,  and  became  mayor  of  Albany, 
a  provincial  councilor,  often  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly,  and  a  representative  to  other 
colonies.  His  descendants  and  those  of  his 
brothers  kept  the  name  on  the  rolls  of  New 
York  and  the  Union  for  a  long  period,  by  abil- 
ity and  worth  and  patriotism,  by  remarkable 
gifts  in  legislation  and  administration,  and  gen- 
erous devotion  to  the  public  welfare. 

Li  the  administration  of  Governor  Hunter,  a 
third  personage  of  eminence  was  Lewis  Mor- 
ris, born  in  Morrisania,  of  Welsh  descent.  He 
possessed  large  estates  in  New  Jersey  as  well 
as  in  New  York,  and  devoted  himself  in  large 
degree  to  public  affairs  in  both  provinces.  He 
was  a  scholar,  a  lawyer,  and  a  natural  leader. 
He  was  especially  influential  in  the  general 
assembly,  became  chief  justice,  and  exerted  a 
lasting  influence.     He  was  one  of  the  closest 


250  NEW  YORK. 

supporters  of  Governor  Hunter,  wlio  owed  not 
a  little  of  the  success  of  his  administration  to 
him.  By  his  efforts  a  separate  administration 
was  accorded  to  New  Jersey,  and  he  became  its 
governor  in  1738.  His  descendants  furnished 
many  notable  names  to  the  roll  of  New  York 
and  the  Union. 

These,  and  such  as  these,  gave  promise  of 
further  development,  already  so  auspiciously 
begun. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

STRUGGLES  FOR   POPULAK   EIGHTS. 

1720-1736. 

William  Btjenet,  son  of  the  distinguished 
bishop,  exchanged  with  General  Hunter  the 
office  of  comptroller  of  customs  in  London  for 
the  position  of  Governor  of  New  York,  and 
began  his  career  in  the  latter  capacity  Septem- 
ber 17,  1720.  He  was  a  civilian  of  consider- 
able culture,  an  astronomer,  and  an  author.  He 
was  one  of  the  multitude  who  had  lost  money 
in  the  South  Sea  Bubble.  He  sought  the  gov- 
ernorship to  retrieve  his  fortunes,  but  no  base 
or  corrupt  devices  are  attributed  to  him.  He 
sought  to  continue  the  policy  of  his  predeces- 
sor, and  the  council  was  not  radically  changed. 
He  accepted  the  friends  of  Governor  Hunter, 
and  identified  himself  with  the  province  by 
wedding  a  daughter  of  Abraham  van  Home,  a 
prosperous  Dutch  merchant,  and  a  member  of 
the  council.  He  met  with  no  difficulty  in  se- 
curing a  grant  of  revenue  for  five  years,  which 
was  extended  for  three  years. 


252  NEW  YORK. 

He  had  the  zealous  support  of  the  colony  in 
the  chief  measure  of  his  administration,  which 
was  the  prohibition  of  the  trade  in  Indian  goods 
between  Albany  and  Canada.  The  French 
traders  found  profit  in  buying  their  supplies  in 
Albany  for  their  trading  excursions  among  the 
red  men.  They  fostered  intimacy  with  the 
tribes,  and  sought  to  alienate  them  from  New 
York.  The  design  of  the  new  statute  was  not 
merely  to  secure  the  profits  of  trade  for  Albany, 
but  to  hold  the  red  men  by  every  tie  to  the 
authority  of  this  province.  The  London  mer- 
chants complained  on  the  ground  that  their  ex- 
ports would  be  reduced,  and  Canada  would  get 
supplies  elsewhere.  The  colonists  responded 
in  an  elaborate  report,  urging  that  the  effect 
was  to  increase  the  volume  of  British  trade  in 
America.  Already  forty  young  men  had  en- 
gaged in  traffic  with  the  red  men.  Indians 
from  Mackinaw  and  a  branch  of  the  Missis- 
sippi had  come  direct  to  Albany  for  merchan- 
dise. The  assurance  was  given  that  more 
beaver  would  be  exported  than  ever  before, 
and  more  goods  would  be  imported  into  New 
York  for  the  Indians.  The  province  through 
Albany  felt  quite  adequate  to  meet  all  demands 
of  the  Indian  trade,  and  to  increase  it.  In  pur- 
suance of  this  policy,  a  trading  post  was  estab- 
lished at  Oswego  in  1722,  and  a  fort  built  there 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        253 

in  1727.  The  French  saw  the  meaning  of  such 
acts,  and  in  1726  launched  two  large  vessels  on 
Lake  Ontario  and  rebuilt  the  fort  at  Niagara, 
where  Joncaire  and  the  historian  Charlevoix 
represented  their  interests. 

These  projects  disturbed  the  Iroquois.  When 
Governor  Burnet  called  upon  them  to  explain 
if  they  encouraged  the  French  at  Niagara,  their 
representatives  declared  at  Albany :  "  We  speak 
now  in  the  name  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  we 
come  to  you  howling  because  the  governor  of 
Canada  encroaches  on  our  land."  They  were 
not  content  to  permit  New  York  to  build  at 
Oswego,  but  finally  they  renewed  an  old  grant 
of  the  land,  ceded  a  strip  sixty  miles  wide  from 
Oswego  to  Cleveland,  on  Lake  Erie,  "  to  be  pro- 
tected "  by  the  British  government.  Governor 
Burnet  was  so  zealous  for  his  plans,  that  he 
paid  from  his  private  funds  for  building  the  fort 
at  Oswego,  where  trade  became  at  once  active. 
The  British  authorities  at  home  repealed,  De- 
cember 11,  1729,  the  prohibition  on  the  trade 
in  Indian  goods  between  Albany  and  Canada, 
and  traffic  with  the  red  men  fell  back  in  some 
measure  into  French  hands.  The  British  mer- 
chants were  finding  the  colonies,  and  not  least 
New  York,  a  good  market,  for  from  1720  to 
1730  England  sent  to  this  province  <£657,998 
worth  of  merchandise,  and  to  all  the  colonies 


254  NEW  YORK. 

£4,712,992.  The  sanguine  trader  might  al- 
ready discern  the  signs  of  the  growing  com- 
merce of  New  York. 

A  congress  of  governors  and  conimissioners 
from  the  various  provinces  met  in  Albany  in 
1722  to  consider  relations  with  the  red  men.  A 
recommendation  was  made  for  a  line  of  trading 
posts  on  the  northern  and  western  frontier.  It 
was  not  acted  upon,  perhaps  because  the  pov- 
erty of  the  colonies  was  more  keenly  felt  than 
the  need  of  a  defensive  policy,  which  would 
have  saved  them  in  the  future  much  blood  and 
treasure.  The  alliance  with  the  Iroquois  was 
confirmed,  and  they  threatened  to  wage  war 
against  the  Eastern  Indians  if  the  latter  kept 
up  their  raids  on  the  New  England  settlers. 
The  habit  of  conference  and  united  action  be- 
tween the  colonies  was  of  more  significance 
than  any  specific  results.  The  leadership  of 
New  York  in  the  movement  was  due  in  this 
case  to  the  importance  of  the  Iroquois,  in  view 
of  the  increasing  activity  of  the  French  from 
Canada  among  the  Western  tribes,  as  well  as 
on  the  borders  of  this  province. 

Popular  discussion  doubtless  existed  in  the 
province,  for  it  goes  forward  wherever  men 
have  minds  and  tongues,  and  the  taverns  of 
Dutch  days  and  public  resorts  of  various  kinds 
of  later  years  afforded   a  sort  of   forum.     In 


STRUGGLES   FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        255 

1693  the  council,  feeling  the  need  of  preserving 
and  multiplying  copies  of  official  papers  within 
the  province,  passed  a  resolution  inviting  a 
printer  to  establish  himself  here,  and  offering 
"^40  a  year  and  half  the  benefit  of  his  print- 
ing besides  what  served  the  public."  William 
Bradford,  who  had  already  the  distinction  of 
the  earliest  printer  in  Philadelphia,  accepted 
the  invitation  to  come  to  New  York,  and  was 
retained  as  official  printer  for  fifty  years.  His 
first  work  was  to  fill  orders  for  broadsides, 
pamphlets,  and  proclamations.  The  prohibition 
against  printing  without  a  license  forbade  the 
establishment  of  any  newspaper.  In  1696,  Gov- 
ernor Fletcher  ordered  the  reprinting  of  a  num- 
ber of  the  London  "Gazette,"  with  news  of  a 
battle  with  the  French.  Among  productions 
of  Bradford's  press  preserved  are  the  trial  of 
Nicholas  Bayard,  under  date  of  1702,  and  the 
Laws  of  the  Colony,  1710.  The  latter  was 
probably  the  first  bound  book  printed  in  New 
York.  About  1723,  Benjamin  Franklin  called 
on  Bradford,  looking  for  work,  but  the  business 
did  not  justify  the  employment  of  additional 
help.  So  the  young  printer  was  referred  with 
kind  words  to  Bradford's  son  in  Philadelphia, 
and  New  York  lost  the  man  who  was  to  call 
lightning  from  its  home,  and  to  stand  before 
Europe  as  the  representative  American. 


256  NEW  YORK. 

In  1725  Governor  Burnet  felt  the  need  of 
communicating  with  the  people  in  a  semi-official 
channel,  and  the  New  York  "  Gazette "  was 
started  b}^  Bradford  to  serve  as  an  organ  of 
the  administration.  It  was  a  weekly  sheet, 
printed  on  foolscap  paper,  from  the  type  known 
as  English  in  size.  As  has  so  often  happened 
since,  one  partisan  organ  called  forth  a  rival. 
The  New  York  "  Weekly  Journal  "  was  started 
November  5,  1733,  by  John  Peter  Zenger,  for 
checking  the  influence  of  Governor  Cosby.  It 
was,  like  the  "  Gazette,"  of  foolscap  size,  but 
was  printed  in  pica  type,  and  so  contained  more 
matter.  Its  publisher,  when  a  boy,  came  over 
in  the  Palatine  migration,  and  was  an  appren- 
tice to  Bradford  in  Philadelphia.  He  had 
scholarly  attainments  and  approved  courage 
and  ability  as  an  editor. 

The  two  newspapers  at  once  engaged  in  con- 
flict. The  ''  Journal  "  criticised  Governor  Cosby 
with  severity,  and  reveled  in  innuendoes  con- 
cerning the  character  and  acts  of  rulers.  Before 
that  paper  was  a  year  old,  the  governor  decorated 
Zenger  by  a  proclamation  for  publishing  "  divers 
scandalous,  virulent,  false  and  seditious  reflec- 
tions, not  only  upon  the  whole  legislature  in 
general  and  upon  the  most  considerable  persons 
in  the  most  distinguished  stations  in  the  prov- 
ince, but  also  upon  his   Majesty's  lawful  and 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        2i>l 

rightful  government,"  and  £20  reward  was 
offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  author  of  two 
ballads,  "  highly  defaming  the  administration 
of  his  Majesty's  government  in  this  province." 
Zenger  was  arrested  and  imprisoned.  He  con- 
tinued to  edit  the  "Journal  "  while  a  prisoner, 
and  the  popular  sympathy  was  strongly  aroused 
in  his  favor.  The  "Journals"  containing  the 
alleged  libels  and  the  sheets  of  the  offensive 
ballads  were  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hang- 
man. The  mayor  and  council  refused  to  attend 
the  burning,  as  required.  The  assembly  stood 
aloof,  while  the  court  of  sessions  forbade  the 
hangman  to  obey  the  order,  and  a  negro  slave 
belonging  to  the  sheriff  burned  the  offensive 
matter.  Governor  Cosby  appealed  to  the  courts 
to  punish  the  audacious  editor  and  to  put  down 
his  newspaper.  The  controversy  constitutes 
one  of  the  most  notable  chapters  in  the  strug- 
gles for  liberty  in  America. 

The  court  of  chancery  was  the  delight  of 
Governor  Burnet,  and  it  was  the  source  of  his 
chief  troubles.  He  exercised  the  powers  of 
chancellor  with  a  flippant  vivacity,  and  with 
the  habits  of  a  layman,  for  he  was  not  a  lawyer. 
One  of  his  decrees  affected  the  estate  of  Phil- 
lipse,  the  speaker  of  the  assembly,  who  had 
been  a  devoted  supporter,  but  was  now  dismissed 
from  the  council.     The  assembly  seized  the  oc- 


258  NEW  YORK. 

casion  to  express  ""  the  general  cry  of  his  Maj- 
esty's subjects  inhabiting  this  colony,"  that  this 
court's  "  violent  measures  "  had  ruined  some 
persons  and  driven  others  from  the  colony,  and 
that  "  its  extraordinary  proceedings  and  the 
exorbitant  fees  countenanced  to  be  exacted  by 
the  officers  thereof  are  the  greatest  grievance 
and  oppression  this  colony  hath  ever  felt." 
Resolutions  were  passed,  November  25,  1727, 
denouncing  "the  erecting  and  exercising"  of 
such  a  court,  as  a  manifest  oppression  and 
grievance  to  the  subjects,  and  of  a  pernicious 
consequence  to  their  lil^erties  and  properties. 
The  assembly  also  announced  the  purpose  to 
declare  all  the  orders  and  proceedings  of  the 
court  to  be  null  and  void.  The  only  action 
taken  at  the  next  session  was,  however,  to  cor- 
rect certain  abuses  in  practice,  and  greatly  to 
reduce  the  fees  of  the  court.  Governor  Burnet 
had  striven  to  secure  fixed  salaries,  by  perma- 
nent appropriations,  for  all  the  officers  of  the 
province,  so  that  they  might  feel  free  from  the 
influence  of  the  assembly.  In  increased  meas- 
ure the  representatives  held  firmly  to  the  purse- 
strings,  and  abolished  the  crown,  office  of  audi- 
tor-general. 

This  controversy  over  the  court  of  chancery 
with  other  incidents  alienated  the  governor's 
previous  supporters.    He  dismissed  Peter  Schuy- 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        269 

ler  from  the  council,  iind  even  DeLancey  went 
over  to  the  opposition  on  account  of  a  quarrel 
in  the  rich  French  church  in  New  York.  In  a 
trial  of  this  case,  two  lawyers  appeared  who 
were  to  become  eminent.  For  the  minister  who 
held  the  pulpit  James  Alexander  was  counsel, 
for  the  elders  William  Smith.  The  former  was 
of  Scotch  descent,  the  latter  of  English  birth 
and  blood,  and  both  came  over  in  tlie  same  ship. 
Smith  challenged  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court, 
on  the  ground  that  the  matter  was  ecclesiastical, 
while  Alexander  sustained  the  court,  and  the 
governor  took  the  same  side.  In  the  new  divi- 
sions, Alexander,  already  a  member  of  the  coun- 
cil, became  one  of  the  leading  champions  of  the 
executive  authority.  Smith  arrayed  himself 
with  the  advocates  of  popular  liberty,  and  was 
for  years  prominent  at  the  bar  and  in  public 
affairs.  A  son  and  grandson  bearing  the  same 
name,  wrote  a  History  of  New  York,  but  chose 
British  protection  and  official  favor  in  Canada, 
when  the  colonies  asserted  their  independence. 
It  was  he  who  in  1734  delivered  an  elaborate 
argument  before  the  assembly,  that  the  assem- 
bly, and  not  the  crown  or  its  representatives, 
should  establish  courts  and  determine  their  ju- 
risdiction, and  judges  should  serve  during  good 
behavior,  and  not  at  the  pleasure  of  the  gov- 
ernor. 


260  NEW  YORK. 

Prompted  probably  by  the  bitterness  arising 
from  the  church  quarrel,  Governor  Burnet  lifted 
Stephen  DeLancey  to  the  position  of  a  martyr. 
The  latter  was  a  Huguenot  refugee  f lom  Caen 
in  Normandy,  and  had  amassed  wealth  as  a 
merchant  in  New  York.  He  was  chosen  in 
1725  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  assembly,  when 
the  governor  refused  to  administer  the  oath  to 
him,  on  the  pretext  that  he  was  an  unnaturalized 
alien.  DeLancey  was  able  to  prove  that  he  was 
a  British  subject,  and  the  assembly  challenged 
the  governor's  action  as  an  infringement  of  its 
privileges.  That  body  always  afterwards  as- 
serted and  maintained  the  exclusive  right  to  de- 
termine the  qualifications  of  its  own  members. 

The  denunciations  of  the  court  of  chancery 
so  offended  Governor  Burnet  that  he  dissolved 
the  assembly,  which  had  existed  for  eleven 
years.  The  new  members  are  stated  to  have 
been  "  all  ill  affected  to  him."  They  were  op- 
posed to  his  broad  claims  of  executive  power, 
and  he  had  his  full  share  of  personal  antago- 
nisms. He  was  glad  to  be  transferred  to  the 
governorship  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  surrender 
the  chair  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  to  John 
Montgomerie,  April  15,  1728.  The  new  gover- 
nor was  a  Scotch  soldier,  who  had  served  in 
parliament  and  as  groom  of  the  bedchamber 
to  King  George  I.     His  career  in  the  province 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        261 

was  uneventful  and  brief,  for  he  died  July  1, 
1731,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rip  van  Dam,  who 
was  the  senior  member  of  the  council.  He  oc- 
cupied the  executive  chair  for  thirteen  months, 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  Governor  Cosby,  who 
came  as  Governor  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
August  1,  1T32. 

Over  the  trifling  matter  of  the  adjustment  of 
fees  between  these  two  officers  arose  a  contro- 
versy which  affected  the  whole  current  of  events. 
Governor  Cosby  brought  an  order  from  the 
king  for  an  equal  partition  between  his  iui  me- 
diate predecessor  and  himself  of  the  salary, 
emoluments,  and  perquisites  of  the  office  for  the 
period  of  Van  Dam's  incumbency.  The  Dutch 
merchant  bowed  before  the  royal  order,  but 
asked  its  literal  execution.  He  had  received 
the  salary,  but  Cosby  had  received  the  fees. 
His  receipts  had  been  <£  1,975  Is.  10c?.,  which 
he  was  willing  to  sliare  with  Cosby,  but  the 
latter  in  turn  must  divide  his  receipts,  alleged 
to  be  X 6,407  18s.  lOcZ.  The  royal  governor 
applied  the  order  of  partition  to  Van  Dam,  and 
not  to  himself.  Both  sides  appealed  to  the 
courts  to  enforce  their  construction.  Van  Dam 
sought  to  proceed  under  the  common  law. 
Cosby  asked  the  supreme  court  to  proceed  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  the  English  courts  in  ex- 
chequer, and  he  designated  the  judges  "  barons 


262  NEW  YORK. 

of  the  exchequer."  Smith  and  Alexander  were 
the  counsel  for  Van  Dam,  and  excepted  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  supreme  court  in  equity. 
Chief  Justice  Morris  sustained  their  claim,  while 
DeLanceyand  Phillipse  overruled  them.  Gov- 
ernor Cosby,  in  order  to  carry  his  case,  as  he 
succeeded  in  doing,  removed  the  chief  justice, 
and  appointed  in  his  stead  James  DeLancey,  a 
native  of  Albany,  but  a  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge,  England,  son  of  that 
DeLancey  over  whose  seat  the  rights  of  the 
assembly  had  been  asserted. 

While  the  Dutch  settlers  had  made  provision 
for  education,  their  English  successors  had  been 
occupied  with  other  things.  Schools  there 
were,  but  so  poorly  supported,  that  our  historian 
Smith  testifies,  that  after  he  was  born,  "  such 
was  the  negligence  of  the  day,  that  an  instructor 
could  not  find  bread  from  the  voluntary  contri- 
butions of  the  inhabitants,"  It  was  high  time 
to  care  for  the  youth  of  the  province,  for  its 
population  had  become,  in  1731,  50,289.  Yet  an 
act  passed  in  1732  to  "  encourage  a  public  school 
in  the  city  of  New  York,"  went  no  further.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  our  broad  system  of  public 
schools,  and  provided  especially  for  teaching 
"  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics."  The  school 
was  free  to  all  pupils. 

Advance  in  religious  liberty  was  made  in  the 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        263 

struggles  of  these  times.  In  1734,  tlie  assembly 
granted  to  the  Quakers  the  privilege  of  mak- 
ing affirmation,  instead  of  taking  the  usual  oath. 
It  was  a  great  step  forward.  Quaker  members 
from  Queens  county  were  excluded  from  the 
assembly  of  1691  for  refusing  the  oath,  and 
the  exclusion  continued  in  effect  for  this  whole 
period.  The  contests  between  the  governor  and 
his  opponents  served  to  teach  the  assembly  the 
need  of  recognizing  the  rights  of  the  individual 
conscience. 

The  assembly  of  1734  was  called  to  meet  other 
demands  for  consideration  for  the  rights  of  the 
people.  In  1728  a  declaration  was  formally 
passed  that  "  for  any  act,  matter,  or  thing  done  in 
general  assembly,  the  members  thereof  are  ac- 
countable and  answerable  to  the  House  only,  and 
to  no  other  persons  whatsoever."  The  notice 
was  directed  to  governor  and  council,  but  log- 
ically it  crossed  the  sea  and  echoed  in  White- 
hall and  in  the  ears  of  King  George.  The 
salaries  of  all  the  officers  of  the  province  were, 
by  act  of  1729,  determined  by  the  assembly. 
The  treasurer  who  paid  the  money  appropriated 
was  appointed  by  the  governor  ;  but  already  ap- 
pointments were  made,  as  Lewis  Morris  charged 
when  Philip  van  Cortlandt  was  named,  of  per- 
sons   "  inclinable  to  give  up  the  rights  of  the 


264  NEW  YORK. 

powers  with  it,  for  Attorney-General  Bradley 
charged  that  the  assembly  attached  to  every 
vote  for  money  "  some  bill  injurious  to  his 
Majesty's  prerogative  and  interest,  which  must 
be  complied  with  or  no  money  can  be  had  for 
the  necessary  support  of  the  government."  He 
told  the  Lords  of  Trade,  November  22,  1729, 
"  Most  of  the  previous  and  open  steps  which  a 
dependent  province  can  take  to  render  them- 
selves independent  at  their  pleasure,  are  taken 
by  the  assembly  of  New  York."  His  words  are 
a  testimonial  of  fidelity  and  patriotism  such  as 
it  was  not  his  purpose  to  perpetuate. 

In  1734,  a  further  demand  was  made.  At 
that  time  representatives  once  elected  served, 
in  fact,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  governor.  Until 
he  was  pleased  to  dissolve  the  assembly,  no  new 
election  could  take  place.  It  was  now  proposed 
to  provide  for  elections  every  three  years.  The 
measure  was  too  radical  to  pass  the  governor 
and  crown  at  once,  but  the  proposal  was  a 
proof  that  the  province  was  reaching  out  for 
all  the  substance  of  power. 

The  controversies,  which  had  been  confined  to 
speech  and  letters  and  broadsides,  found  a  larger 
audience  when  rival  journals  entered  upon  their 
discussion.  Party  spirit  borrowed  bitterness 
from  personal  quarrels.  Governor  Cosby  was 
greedy,  arrogant,  and  strong-headed.    The  coun- 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        265 

cil  had  a  will  of  its  own,  denied  his  riglit  to 
preside  at  its  meetings,  and  commanded  the 
popular  favor.  He  dismissed  such  of  its  mem- 
bers as  he  pleased,  and  removed  from  the  bench 
those  who  failed  to  carry  out  his  schemes.  He 
died  March  10,  1736,  and  left  an  order  not  be- 
fore promulgated  suspending  Rip  van  Dam, 
the  senior  member,  from  the  council. 

Governor  Cosby  had  served  in  a  like  execu- 
tive capacity  in  Minorca  before  he  came  to 
New  York,  but  experience  had  not  taught  him 
wisdom  as  a  ruler.  He  sought  to  derive  all 
available  profits  out  of  the  colony.  The  rev- 
enue was  voted  under  his  administration  for  six 
years,  and  he  received  a  salary  of  X  1,560,  with 
payments  of  fees  of  ^400,  £150  for  a  trip  to 
Albany,  and  X750  for  services  in  London  in 
opposing  a  bill  inimical  to  the  colony  relative 
to  trade  in  sugar. 

In  an  address  to  the  assembly,  he  admitted 
that  discouragements  were  upon  trade  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  province.  These  his  oppo- 
nents charged  to  his  misgovernment.  He  rec- 
ommended as  remedies,  assistance  to  ship- 
building and  a  transfer  of  some  of  the  taxes 
from  trade  to  legal  documents,  while  he  con- 
demned "  too  great  importation  of  negroes  and 
convicts."  This  address  is  in  better  spirit  than 
his    personal    conduct.     He    destroyed    deeds 


266  NEW  YORK. 

which  fell  into  his  hands  for  land  in  Albany, 
and  he  aimed  to  overthrow  the  old  patents  on 
Long  Island,  in  order  that  in  the  re-adjustment 
he  might  get  gain  in  fees,  and  perhaps  also  in 
land.  In  like  spirit,  when  the  Mohawks  sub- 
mitted to  him  a  deed  by  which  they  had  con- 
veyed a  valuable  part  of  their  domain  to  be 
held  in  trust  for  them,  and  objected  to  grants 
to  private  persons  in  defiance  of  this  trust,  he 
by  deceit  secured  possession  of  the  paper,  and 
threw  it  into  the  fire,  where  it  was  burned. 
The  name  of  "  Cosby 's  manor,"  covering  vast 
tracts  of  land  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley,  and  perpetuated  in  the  title-deeds, 
proves  that  his  greed  brought  rich  and  ripe 
fruit  into  his  lap. 

A  strong  effort  for  his  removal  was  pressed 
in  London  by  Lewis  Morris,  who  had  gone 
abroad  with  leave  of  the  assembly,  and  there- 
fore spoke  to  some  extent  in  its  name.  But 
the  Lords  of  Trade  reported  that  the  reasons 
urged  did  not  call  for  action  on  their  part.  And 
so  Cosby  ruled  until  death  befell  him.  The 
best  that  can  be  said  of  his  character  is  that  it 
developed  an  opposition  which  established  a 
free  press  in  the  province,  and  lifted  up  the 
courts  into  an  independence  which  his  suc- 
cessors could  not  destroy.  His  tyranny  was  so 
gross,  and  his  self-seeking  so  offensive,  that  he 


STRUGGLES  FOR  POPULAR  RIGHTS.        267 

served  the  province  better  than  a  more  prudent 
governor  could  have  done.  The  people  learned 
to  look  out  for  their  own  rights,  to  assert  their 
own  convictions,  to  defend  the  integrity  of  the 
judiciary,  and  to  regard  their  rulers  not  as  rep- 
resentatives of  a  sacred  majesty,  but  as  simple 
instruments  for  carrying  on  the  government. 
The  teaching  was  rude,  but  the  lesson  was 
learned. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   PHESS   MADE  FBEE. 

1734-1735. 

John  Petee  Zenger  had  no  heroic  aim 
when  he  printed  political  ballads,  and  admitted 
severe  censure  of  Governor  Cosby  into  the  col- 
umns of  the  New  York  "  Journal,"  and  in- 
dulged in  the  criticisms  which  events  and  meas- 
ures seemed  to  him  to  justify.  The  specific 
libel  with  which  he  was  charged  was  an  article 
in  answer  to  the  "  Gazette,"  declaring  that 
"  the  people  of  New  York  think,  as  matters  now 
stand,  that  their  liberties  and  properties  are 
precarious,  and  that  slavery  is  likely  to  be  en- 
tailed on  them  and  their  posterity,  if  some  past 
things  be  not  amended."  The  "Journal  "  also 
reported  a  person  moving  from  New  York  to 
Pennsylvania  as  saying :  "  We  see  men's  deeds 
destroyed,  judges  arbitrarily  displaced,  new 
courts  erected  without  consent  of  the  legisla- 
ture, by  which  it  seems  to  me  trials  by  juries 
are  taken  away,  when  a  governor  pleases ;  men 
of  known  estates  denied  their  votes,   contrary 


THE  PRESS  MADE  FREE.  269 

to  the  received  practice  of  the  best  expositor  of 
any  law.  Who  is  there  in  that  province  that 
can  call  anything  his  own,  or  enjoy  any  liberty 
longer  than  those  in  the  administration  will 
condescend  to  let  thera  do  it?  for  which  reason 
I  left  it,  as  I  believe  more  will."  This  report 
of  the  criticism  of  an  emigrant,  and  still  more 
the  words  of  the  editor,  were  little  more  than 
a  repetition  of  some  of  the  phrases  of  the  as- 
sembly denouncing  the  court  of  chancery,  with 
a  fresh  application,  and  a  verbal  expansion. 
The  language  did  not  go  beyond  that  often  used 
in  political  discussion  before  and  since,  and  it 
embodied  none  of  the  charges  against  the  per- 
sonal integrity  of  the  governor  which  were  cur- 
rent and  have  come  down  to  posterity.  It  was, 
however,  too  bold  and  too  comprehensive  for 
the  royal  representative  to  endure. 

When  Zenger  was  arrested,  November  17, 
1734,  he  was  at  first  denied  even  pen,  ink  and 
paper.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  sued  out 
for  him,  when  he  swore  that  '*  he  was  not 
worth  X40  in  the  world,"  but  bail  was  fixed  at 
.£800,  which  he  did  not  raise  ;  but  his  liberty 
was  enlarged,  so  that  he  was  able  to  edit  the 
"Journal"  from  his  room  in  the  city  hall,  then 
used  as  a  jail.  The  grand  jury  refused  to  find 
a  bill  for  libel,  and  proceedings  were  insti- 
tuted by  information,  by  the  attorne3^-general, 
Richard  Bradley. 


270  NEW  YORK. 

At  the  April  term  of  the  supreme  court, 
Alexander  and  Smith,  his  counsel,  excepted  to 
the  commissions  of  Judges  DeLancej  and  Phil- 
lipse.  They  were  met  by  an  order  of  the  court 
excluding  them  from  practice  at  the  bar,  and 
assigning  John  Chambers  as  counsel  to  Zenger, 
while  a  struck  jury  was  summoned  for  the  trial. 
The  case  aroused  all  the  more  attention  from 
this  action  of  the  judges.  It  was  everywhere 
discussed,  and  the  friends  of  the  prisoner  took 
pains  to  excite  sympathy.  Three  years  later, 
when  the  disbarred  attorneys  were  prosecuting 
suits  for  damages  against  the  judges,  they  were 
restored  to  practice  on  abandoning  all  such 
claims.  Thrust  out  of  court,  they  enlisted  all 
the  more  heartily  in  behalf  of  Zenger,  or  per- 
haps more  truly  against  his  assailants,  and  were 
the  real  advisers  in  legal  proceedings,  and  quite 
as  much  in  the  popular  movements  which  gave 
courage  to  the  defendant  and  to  his  supporters. 

Probably  in  connection  with  this  case,  cer- 
tainly about  this  time,  an  organization  was 
formed,  destined  to  wield  vital  influence  on  the 
affairs  not  only  of  the  province,  but  of  the  con- 
tinent. To  express  and  maintain  opposition  to 
arbitrary  power,  and  at  this  time  especially  to 
the  acts  and  policy  of  Governor  Cosby,  the 
''  Sons  of  Liberty "  were  established.  The 
leaders  in  tbe  movement  have  left  no  memorial 


TEE  PRESS   MADE   FREE  271 

of  their  services.  The  records  of  the  society 
at  that  time  were  secret,  and  it  was  felt  rather 
than  heard.  At  a  later  period  it  became  the 
nucleus  of  deliberation,  correspondence,  and  ac- 
tion. 

When  the  case  of  Zenger  was  called  the 
judges  were  surprised  to  see  as  leading  counsel 
for  Zenger,  Andrew  Hamilton,  speaker  of  the 
assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  a  Quaker,  venerable 
in  years,  and,  as  he  soon  proved,  skilled  in  law, 
and  master  of  a  glowing  and  powerful  elo- 
quence. He  admitted  the  publication  charged, 
but  denied  that  it  was  "  scandalous  or  sedi- 
tious." The  attorney-general  argued  that  the 
"jury  must  find  a  verdict  for  the  king,"  whether 
"  the  libel  was  true  or  false."  He  pronounced 
it  a  very  grave  offense  to  revile  those  in  author- 
ity, and  declared  that  Zenger  had  offended  in 
a  most  notorious  and  gross  manner  in  scandaliz- 
ing the  king's  immediate  representative.  Ham- 
ilton charged  the  attorney-general  with  going 
back  to  the  odious  Star  Chamber  for  his  prece- 
dents, and  ridiculed  the  claim  that  the  governor 
could  arrogate  the  prerogative  and  exemptions 
of  the  sovereign.  The  information  charged  the 
publication  to  be  false  ;  the  defense  did  not  ask 
proof  to  this  effect,  but  offered  to  give  testi- 
mony that  it  was  true.  The  chief  justice  ruled 
that  the  defense  could  not  be  "permitted  to 


272  NEW  YORK. 

prove  the  facts  in  the  papers."  Hamilton  cited 
authorities  in  support  of  his  position,  and  then 
appealed  to  the  jury  as  witnesses  of  the  facts. 
He  went  further.  He  charged  thus  :  "  The 
practice  of  informations  for  libels,"  adopted  by 
the  prosecution,  "  is  a  sword  in  the  hands  of  a 
wicked  king  and  an  arrant  coward,  to  cut  down 
and  destroy  the  innocent."  He  declared  that 
the  representatives  of  a  free  people  "  are  not 
obliged  by  any  law  to  support  a  governor  who 
goes  about  to  destroy  a  province  or  its  privi- 
leges which  by  his  Majesty  he  was  appointed 
and  by  the  law  he  is  bound  to  protect  and  en- 
courage." Referring  to  the  right  of  protest  he 
asked,  "  Of  what  use  is  this  mighty  privilege  if 
every  man  that  suffers  must  be  silent,  and  if  a 
man  must  be  taken  up  as  a  libeler  for  telling 
his  sufferings  to  his  neighbor  ?  "  He  dwelt  on 
the  abuses  of  executive  power  in  general,  in 
controlling  legislatures  and  courts.  He  averred 
that  ''  prosecutions  for  libel  have  generally 
been  set  on  foot  by  the  crown  or  its  ministers  ; 
and  it  is  no  small  reproach  to  the  law,  that 
these  prosecutions  were  too  often  and  too  much 
countenanced  by  the  judges,  who  held  their 
places  at  pleasure,  —  a  disagreeable  tenure  to 
any  officer,  but  a  dangerous  one  in  the  case  of 
a  judge."  He  insisted  that  the  jury  should  con- 
sider the  truth  of  the  publication. 


THE  PRESS  MADE  FREE.  273 

In  conclusion  he  asserted  the  principle  un- 
derlying the  case :  "  It  is  not  the  cause  of  a 
poor  printer,  nor  of  New  York  alone,  which  the 
jury  is  now  trying.  No  !  It  may  in  its  conse- 
quences affect  every  freeman  that  lives  under 
a  British  government  on  the  main  of  America. 
It  is  the  best  cause,  it  is  the  cause  of  liberty  ; 
and  I  make  no  doubt  but  your  upright  conduct 
this  day  will  not  only  entitle  you  to  the  love 
and  esteem  of  your  fellow-citizens,  but  every 
man  who  prefers  freedom  to  slavery  will  bless 
and  honor  you  as  men  who  have  baffled  the 
attempt  of  tyranny,  and  by  the  impartial  and 
uncorrupt  verdict,  have  laid  a  noble  foundation 
for  securing  to  ourselves,  our  posterity,  and  our 
neighbors,  that  to  which  nature  and  the  laws 
of  our  country  have  given  us  a  right,  —  the 
liberty  both  of  exposing  and  opposing  arbitrary 
power,  in  these  parts  of  the  world  at  least,  by 
speaking  and  writing  truth." 

After  such  an  appeal  the  argument  of  Attor- 
ney-General Bradley  fell  like  idle  words  on  the 
ears  of  the  jury;  and  the  charge  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice DeLancey,  that  the  court  and  not  the  jurors 
must  decide  whether  the  words  were  libelous, 
had  no  effect.  The  jury  promptly  rendered  a 
verdict  of  not  guilty. 

The  significance  of  the  result  was  perceived 
at  once,  and  the  report  of  the  jury  was  greeted 


274  NEW  YORK. 

with  deafening  sliouts.  Chief  Justice  DeLan- 
cey  rebuked  the  crowd,  and  threatened  to  im- 
prison the  offenders,  whereupon  a  son  of  Ad- 
miral Norris  called  for  more  cheers,  and  they 
were  given.  The  chief  justice  succumbed  to 
the  demonstration  of  popular  enthusiasm,  and 
ordered  no  arrests.  The  advocate  Hamilton 
was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  A  banquet  was 
served  and  a  salute  was  fired  in  his  honor,  and 
the  common  council  voted  to  him  the  freedom 
of  the  city  for  "  the  remarkable  service  done 
by  him  to  the  city  and  colony  by  his  learning 
and  generous  defense  of  the  rights  of  mankind 
and  the  liberty  of  the  press."  The  gold  box 
containing  the  certificate  bore  the  mottoes : 
^^  Demersae  leges^  timefaeta  libertas,  haec  tan- 
dem emergunt ;  ""^  "•  Non  nummis,  virtute  para- 
tur  ;  "  and  on  its  front :  "  Ita  cuique  eveniat  ut 
de  repuhlica  meruit.''^ 

In  advance  of  action  in  any  other  province, 
in  a  clearer,  stronger  tone  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  world,  the  liberty  to  print  the  truth  was 
thus  asserted  in  New  York.  The  occasion  arose 
out  of  the  struggle  over  the  partition  of  exec- 
utive emoluments.  That  incident  led  Governor 
Cosby  to  interfere  with  the  independence  of  the 
bench.  It  put  Van  Dam  forth  as  battling  for 
the  legal  privileges  of  the  citizen.  The  divi- 
sions in  the  council  aggravated,  while  they  were 


THE  PRESS  MADE  FREE.  275 

in  part  caused  by,  this  controversy.  The  gov- 
ernor created  a  council  to  support  all  his  acts. 
The  suspended  members  and  the  assembly,  ar- 
rayed first  against  his  aggressions,  inevitably 
used  the  language  and  became  the  champions 
of  legislative  and  individual  rights.  The  estab- 
lishment of  the  "  Journal  "  afforded  a  channel 
for  their  criticism,  their  satire,  their  arguments. 
The  trial  of  Zenger  was  not  the  prosecution  of 
an  editor  simply.  It  was  the  effort  of  arbitrary 
power  to  suppress  free  speech,  to  hold  the 
courts  in  leash,  to  rule  by  royal  prerogative  and 
executive  assertion. 

The  strength  of  the  popular  determination 
can  be  measured  by  its  overwhelming  triumph. 
The  jury  spurned  the  direction  of  the  chief 
justice,  and  decided  the  case  independently  of 
his  claim  to  apply  the  law.  The  court  yielded 
without  protest,  and  the  audience  turned  the 
chamber  into  a  scene  of  tumultuous  rejoicing. 
Zenger  was  sustained  in  the  right  to  criticise 
the  administration.  The  jury  went  further,  and 
proclaimed  that  his  criticisms  were  true  and 
just.  The  triumph,  however,  did  not  belong  to 
him.  Hamilton  attained  a  success  in  his  pro- 
fession rare  in  any  land.  A  stranger  in  the 
city,  he  had  spoken  the  words,  had  given  utter- 
ance to  the  purposes,  had  crystallized  the  con- 
victions and  aspirations  of  the  people.     They 


276  NEW  YORK. 

recognized  in  him  the  voice  eloquent  for  the 
present  emergency,  and  prophetic  of  that  liberty 
which  on  province  and  continent  was  already 
beginning  to  dawn. 

With  the  declarations  of  the  charter  of  liber- 
ties, with  the  protests  against  interference  with 
the  power  of  the  assembly  over  the  revenue, 
with  the  recent  denunciations  against  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  court  of  chancery,  and. against 
the  designation  of  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
as  barons  of  the  exchequer,  the  people  of  New 
York  were  ready  to  accept  the  bold  eloquence 
of  Hamilton  and  his  appeals  for  the  rights  of 
mankind,  in  their  full  scope  and  logic.  Already 
the  seed  was  sown  which  was  germinating  to 
become  Declaration  of  Independence  and  Na- 
tional Constitution. 

For  the  doctrine  of  this  case  went  far  beyond 
the  decisions  of  the  courts  in  England  up  to 
that  time,  and  far  in  advance  of  any  claim  then 
asserted  in  other  colonies.  In  Massachusetts 
the  authorities  were  agreed  in  censuring  James 
Franklin  for  articles  in  his  "  Courant,"  and  had 
forbidden  him  to  print  it  further,  "  except  it  be 
first  supervised."  This  New  York  verdict  cast 
to  the  winds  all  the  tyranny  of  requiring  license 
for  printing,  and  maintained  the  liberty  of  the 
press  up  to  the  highest  standard  which  even 
this  century  has  proclaimed. 


TEE  PRESS  MADE  FREE.  277 

Viewed'  in  the  light  of  that  day,  before  the 
colonies  had  learned  the  use  and  power  of  news- 
papers, before  John  Wilkes  had  defied  parlia- 
ment and  crown  in  behalf  of  the  right  to  deal 
in  type  with  public  questions,  the  case  and  its 
results  marked  a  complete  change  in  theory 
and  practice.  It  was  the  development  of  a 
new  motor  in  affairs.  It  was  the  creation  of 
an  implement  for  the  people,  which  rulers  and 
courts  must  forever  regard.  The  Christian  era 
doubtless  would  have  come  without  John  the 
Baptist  and  his  preaching.  So  American  inde- 
pendence would  have  been  wrought  out,  with- 
out this  triumph  for  the  liberty  of  printing  the 
truth.  But  as  events  have  occurred,  the  trial 
of  Zenger  and  his  acquittal  stand  forth  as  the 
one  incident  which  molded  opinions,  which 
strengthened  courage,  which  crystallized  pur- 
pose on  this  continent  in  the  grand  movement 
whose  termination  perhaps  no  man  foresaw, 
whose  direction  few  suggested  above  a  whisper^ 
and  yet  whose  logic  was  as  direct  as  the  laws 
of  the  universe. 

Why  should  the  press  be  wholly  free,  if  this 
continent  was  to  bow  before  a  king  seated  be- 
yond the  ocean,  and  to  receive  its  statutes  from 
a  parliament  in  which  it  could  have  no  repre- 
sentatives? A  generation  was  required  for  the 
question  to  stir  men's  minds,  and  to  bring  them 


278  NEW  YORK. 

face  to  face  with  the  answer.  If  Zenger  had 
been  convicted,  no  estimate  can  determine  the 
time  which  would  have  been  demanded  to  strike 
the  fetters  from  discussion,  and  therefore  from 
deliberation  and  action  for  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

This  verdict  in  New  York  was  an  achieve- 
ment for  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  so  for 
the  liberty  of  man,  of  which  the  colonies  soon 
began  to  reap  the  benefit,  and  for  which  the 
thought  and  speech  of  mankind  all  over  the 
globe  are  braver  and  more  affluent  of  noble  life. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COLLISIONS  AND   AFFLICTIONS. 

1736-1743. 

Rip  van  Dam  denied  the  efficiency  of  Gov- 
ernor Cosby 's  posthumous  order  for  his  re- 
moval, on  the  ground  that  it  had  not  been 
confirmed  by  the  crown.  On  that  claim  he 
was,  as  senior  councilor,  acting  governor  of 
the  province.  The  next  councilor  in  order  was 
George  Clarke,  who  also  claimed  the  executive 
chair.  They  carried  their  contest  to  the  eve 
of  actual  violence.  An  election  for  alderman 
in  New  York  city  showed  a  majority  for  Van 
Dam's  friends.  The  grand  jury  was  publicly 
urged  to  indict  Clarke  for  high  treason,  and 
he  in  turn  summoned  the  militia  into  the  fort 
to  maintain  his  title.  The  assembly  responded 
to  a  proclamation  issued  by  Clarke,  but  by  re- 
peated adjournment  postponed  decision  on  the 
controversy  until  orders  should  be  received 
from  the  home  government.  Van  Dam's  mag- 
istrates in  New  York  resolved   to   assert   his 


280  NEW  YORK. 

authority  by  Sorms  on  October  12,  1736.  But 
Leisler's  tragic  comedy  was  not  to  be  reen- 
acted ;  for  just  in  tlie  nick  of  time  a  vessel 
arrived  with,  official  despatches  to  Clarke,  as 
president  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  prov- 
ince, and  soon  afterwards  he  was  appointed 
lieutenant  governor.  Arms  were  stayed  ;  the 
contest  was  shifted  to  the  field  of  discussion 
and  politics. 

Clarke  was  disposed  to  exercise  his  power 
shrewdly  and  with  moderation.  He  refrained 
from  sitting  with  the  council  when  it  met  as 
an  upper  house  of  legislature,  and  thus  set  a 
precedent  which  his  successors  followed.  His 
opening  address  to  the  assembly  exhibited  in- 
telligent consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the 
province.  In  view  of  settlements  which  had  ex- 
tended into  the  Mohawk  country  beyond  Fort 
Hunter,  he  recommended  that  its  garrison  be 
removed  to  a  fort  to  be  built  ''  on  the  carrying- 
place,"  where  Rome  now  stands,  both  to  en- 
courage the  "  settling  of  the  rest,  which  is  most 
the  greatest  part  of  the  Mohawk  country,"  and 
"to  fix  an  easier  communication  between  all 
the  frontier  garrisons  from  Albany  to  Oswego." 

The  assembly  did  not  comply  with  his  rec- 
ommendations, particularly  to  provide  for  a 
considerable  debt  of  the  province  ;  and  May  3, 
1737,  he  dissolved  the  House,  which  had  been 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  281 

elected  nine  years  before,  and  writs  were  issued 
for  an  election  in  the  succeeding  June.  His 
trust  in  the  new  assembly  is  evidence  of  his 
courage  and  confidence  in  his  own  influence. 
He  was  recognized  as  the  successor  of  Cosby 
in  tendencies  as  well  as  in  place,  while  the 
opponents  of  that  governor,  and  especially  the 
friends  of  Van  Dam,  were  active  and  numer- 
ous. Clarke  proved  himself  able  to  conduct 
affairs,  not  so  as  to  satisfy  either  faction,  but  so 
as  to  secure  support  for  his  measures,  and  to 
prevent  rival  leaders  from  rising  to  power  over 
his  failures. 

The  new  assembly  began  well,  by  recording 
for  the  first  time  the  ayes  and  noes  on  the  pas- 
sage of  bills.  Its  response  to  his  address  was 
long,  bold,  and  critical  of  past  rulers,  and  threat- 
ening to  the  governor.  It  called  for  frequent 
elections,  a  settling  of  the  courts,  and,  while 
recognizing  the  royal  prerogatives,  claimed  the 
right  of  the  people  to  be  "  protected  in  the  en- 
joyment of  our  liberties  and  properties."  The 
debts  of  the  province,  the  address  alleged,  ex- 
isted, although  the  legislators  "  had  been  lavish 
beyond  their  abilities  ;"  and  they  felt  called  upon 
to  say :  "  We  therefore  beg  leave  to  be  plain 
with  your  honor,  and  hope  you  will  not  take  it 
amiss  when  we  tell  you,  you  are  not  to  expect 
that  we  either  will  raise  sums  unfit  to  be  raised, 


282  NEW  YORK. 

or  put  what  we  shall  raise  into  the  power  of  a 
governor  to  misapply,  if  we  can  prevent  it ;  nor 
shall  we  make  up  any  other  deficiencies  than 
what  we  conceive  are  fit  and  just  to  be  paid,  or 
continue  what  support  or  revenue  we  shall  raise 
for  any  longer  time  than  one  year ;  nor  do  we 
think  it  convenient  to  do  even  that  until  such 
laws  are  passed  as  we  conceive  necessary  for  the 
safety  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony,  who 
have  reposed  a  trust  in  us  for  that  only  purpose, 
and  which  we  are  sure  you  will  think  it  rea- 
sonable we  should  act  agreeable  to,  and  by  the 
grace  of  God  we  will  endeavor  not  to  deceive 
them."  The  sentence  was  sinuous,  but  the 
meaning  struck  home  like  a  winged  arrow.  It 
was  a  declaration  of  independence  which  any 
governor  could  understand.  Clarke  took  it  well 
to  heart. 

The  legislation  of  the  assembly  which  was  dis- 
solved October  20, 1738,  covered  a  large  number 
of  bills.  A  law  was  passed  ordering  triennial 
elections  of  assemblymen,  but  it  was  vetoed  by 
the  authorities  in  England.  New  paper  money 
to  the  volume  of  £48,350  was  created,  of  which, 
to  comply  with  the  rule  established,  .£8,350  was 
appropriated  to  current  uses,  while  £40,000  was 
apportioned  to  the  counties,  to  be  loaned  on 
mortgage,  in  sums  not  less  than  £25  nor  more 
than  £100,  at  interest  of  five  per  cent.,  which 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  283 

was  two  per  cent,  below  the  legal  rate.  The 
interest  was  set  aside  to  pay  the  sum  of  £8,350, 
and  afterwards  for  current  uses.  Perhaps  as  a 
sop,  the  governor's  salary  was  raised  to  .£1,560, 
only  to  be  reduced  at  the  next  session  to  £1,300. 
To  a  bill  granting  revenue  for  one  year  only,  as 
was  always  thereafter  the  limit,  was  tacked  a 
provision  that  the  paper  money  of  1714  and 
1717,  and  the  excise  for  sinking  fund,  should  be 
continued  for  some  years.  That  was  the  meas- 
ure which  led  to  the  dissolution. 

This  assembly,  in  the  case  of  a  contested  elec- 
tion for  a  vacancy  in  the  city  of  New  York,  set 
up  two  principles  which  have  been  since  rejected. 
Adolph  Phillipse  had  received  the  certificate, 
and  protest  was  made  in  behalf  of  Cornelius 
Van  Home,  on  the  ground  that  Jews  and  non- 
residents had  been  allowed  to  vote.  The  elo- 
quence of  William  Smith  for  Van  Home,  and 
Murray  for  Phillipse,  has  passed  into  a  tradition. 
Smith  succeeded  in  having  the  votes  of  Jews  re- 
jected ;  but  the  votes  of  non-resident  freeholders 
were  counted,  and  Phillipse  was  confirmed  in  his 
seat,  and  in  the  next  assembly  was  chosen  to 
be  speaker.  Less  serious  is  an  incident  gravely 
recorded  in  the  quaint  type  of  the  journal  of  the 
assembly  for  1738,  for  the  last  day  but  one  of 
the  session.  A  formal  preamble  recites  that, 
"  whereas  on  the  complaint  of  Colonel  Chambers 


284  NEW  YORK. 

that  one  Samuel  Bevier  had  calumniated  him 
by  saying  that  he  was  a  rogue  and  liar,  and 
likewise  a  fool  and  no  fit  person  to  be  an  as- 
semblyman, and  that  he  was  always  drunk,  and 
that  the  other  assemblymen  could  always  make 
him  do  as  they  had  a  mind,"  and  that  Bevier 
could  not  be  arrested  before  the  dissolution ; 
thereupon  "  the  House  unanimously  certified 
that  the  said  Colonel  Chambers  has  duly  at- 
tended the  service  of  this  House  in  a  sober  and 
discreet  manner,  and  that  he  (as  far  as  is  known 
to  the  other  members)  always  acted  as  a  free 
representative  for  the  public  service  of  this 
colony."  Colonel  Chambers  had  been  seated 
after  a  contest  as  the  member  for  Ulster  county, 
and  his  name  appears  as  that  of  one  taking 
his  due  share  in  the  public  business.  His  ex- 
ample has  not  served  to  establish  a  rule  for 
certificates  of  character  from  fellow-members  to 
legislators  accused  of  bad  conduct,  nor  is  it  the 
practice  to-day  to  spread  on  the  records  charges 
that  a  member  is  a  rogue,  a  fool,  and  unfit  for 
his  place. 

Scandal  arose  over  the  immigration  of  a  body 
of  Scotch  Highlanders  under  the  leadership  of 
Captain  Laughlin  Campbell.  He  sold  his  estate 
in  Scotland,  and  brought  over  eighty-three  fam- 
ilies, including  four  hundred  and  twenty-three 
adults  besides  children,  and  his  plan  was  to 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  285 

maintain  a  settlement  to  defend  Lake  George 
against  French  incursions.  In  his  behalf  it  is 
alleged  that  he  acted  under  a  promise  from  Gov- 
ernor Clarke  of  a  grant  of  30,000  acres,  and 
impoverished  himself  to  carry  out  his  scheme 
of  immigration.  On  the  other  hand  the  state- 
ment is  put  forth  that  many  of  his  company 
came  at  their  own  cost,  and  on  landing  claimed 
that  they  sought  relief  from  the  vassalage  they 
were  under  to  lords  in  Scotland,  and  would  not 
become  vassals  to  Campbell  in  America.  Some 
were  certainly  bound  to  serve  him  for  the 
expenses  of  their  transportation.  Governor 
Clarke,  October  13,  1738,  asked  the  assembly 
to  provide  for  the  support  of  such  families  who 
were  "  poor  and  unable  to  do  without  some  as- 
sistance." A  motion  was  offered  by  Mr.  Liv- 
ingston, who  remembered  the  experience  with 
the  Palatines,  to  give  £1  to  each  of  seventy 
families,  and  the  historian  Smith  avers  this 
proposition  was  to  offset  the  claims  of  the  gov- 
ernor and  his  subordinates  for  extortionate  fees 
and  a  share  of  the  lands.  The  over-sanguine 
expectations  of  Campbell,  and  the  pressure  of 
the  contract  system,  are  enough  to  explain  a 
large  share  of  the  complaints.  The  trials  of  a 
new  country  and  the  homesickness  of  immi- 
grants may  serve  further  in  the  same  direction. 
Campbell  was  ruined  by  his  speculation.    Many 


286  NEW  YORK. 

of  the  Highlanders  enlisted  in  the  war  with 
Spain,  and  were  sent  on  the  expedition  to  Car- 
thagena. 

By  this  immigration  the  province  secured  a 
much-needed  addition  to  its  population,  and 
these  Highlanders  must  have  sent  messages 
home  not  altogether  unfavorable ;  for  they 
proved  the  pioneers  of  a  multitude  whose  com- 
ing in  successive  years  was  to  add  strength  and 
industry  and  thrift  and  intelligence  beyond  the 
ratio  of  their  numbers  to  the  communities  in 
which  they  set  up  their  homes. 

Affairs  with  the  Iroquois,  Governor  Clarke 
was  wise  enough  to  foresee,  required  once  more 
the  most  serious  attention.  The  French  had 
been  permitted  in  1731  to  erect  Fort  Fred- 
erick at  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  and 
the  New  York  assembly  had  contented  itself 
with  a  declaration  '*  that  this  encroachment,  if 
not  prevented,  would  prove  of  a  most  pernicious 
consequence  to  this  and  other  colonies."  But 
at  that  time  neither  the  home  government  nor 
the  province  took  any  action  to  repel  the  in- 
vasion, except  as  new  supplies  of  ammunition 
and  cannon  were  secured  from  England.  Iron- 
dequoit,  on  Lake  Ontario,  was  marked  by  the 
French  for  another  foothold,  and  Governor 
Clarke  tried  to  induce  the  Iroquois  to  keep 
them  out,  and  to  permit  a  settlement  there  by 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  287 

New  York  as  an  advance  post  of  the  garrison 
at  Oswego.  He  could  not  secure  the  assent  of 
the  red  men  to  his  project,  for  they  would  per- 
mit settlement  there  by  neither  side.  The  as- 
sembly on  its  part  refused  to  repair  the  chapel 
at  the  first  Mohawk  castle,  or  to  advance  money 
for  strengthening  any  post  on  the  frontiers, 
yielding  reluctantly  to  a  demand  from  the  red 
men  themselves  for  the  repair  of  Fort  Hunter. 
Struggles  over  the  revenue  between  governor 
and  assembly  are  a  constant  feature  in  the 
chronicles  of  New  York.  The  assembly  of 
1739  gained  another  step  towards  control  by 
insisting  upon  making  its  appropriations  in 
definite  sums  for  specific  purposes,  and  even  for 
salaries  for  officials  by  name.  This  was  a  rad- 
ical change  from  the  grant  of  money  in  gross  to 
be  paid  on  the  governor's  warrant,  according 
to  previous  custom.  Discussion  between  the 
governor  and  the  legislators  at  this  period 
was  sharp,  radical,  and  prolonged.  Governor 
Clarke  gave  warning  that  "a  jealousy  had  for 
some  years  obtained  in  England  as  to  this 
province  that  the  plantations  are  not  without 
thoughts  of  throwing  off  their  dependence  on 
the  crown  of  England,"  but  he  "  hoped  and  be- 
lieved that  no  man  in  this  province  had  any 
such  intention."  In  its  exhaustive  address  in 
i-eply,  the  assembly,  insisting  on  popular  rights, 


288  NEW  YORK. 

declared  in  words  then  construed  as  full  of 
unreserved  loyalty,  that  it  "vouched  that  not  a 
single  person  in  the  colony  has  any  thoughts  or 
desires "  for  separation  from  the  crown  ;  for 
"  under  what  government,"  it  was  asked,  "  can 
we  be  better  protected,  or  our  liberties  and 
properties  so  well  secured?"  The  satire  in- 
cluded in  the  question  was  not,  perhaps,  meant 
by  the  authors,  as  it  was  not  discerned  by  the 
readers  at  the  time.  It  is  possible,  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  to  read  beneath  the  words 
a  doubt  whether  liberty  was  not  reaching  out 
for  new  forms  and  a  better  substance.  So  as- 
severations of  loyalty  become  sometimes  chal- 
lenges and  defiance.  But  the  assembly  of  New 
York  did  not  thus  construe  its  own  declarations. 
While  the  colonists  were  exhibiting  in  so 
many  ways  so  much  of  common  sense,  and  even 
of  profound  sagacity,  a  tragedy  occurred  which 
proved  that  superstition  and  frenzy  found 
among  them,  as  among  so  many  other  intelli- 
gent communities,  ready  victims,  whom  panic 
could  drive  into  cruelty  and  blood-thirstiness. 
March  18,  1741,  a  fire  occurred  in  the  chapel 
and  barracks  at  Fort  George,  on  the  Battery, 
in  New  York.  It  was  generally  believed  to  be 
accidental,  but  charges  were  set  afloat  that  it 
was  set  by  negroes.  Before  April  6,  eight 
other  fires  startled  the  entire  community,  and 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  289 

a  negro  was  detected  escaping  from  near  the 
last  flames.  Belief  in  a  plot  by  negroes  for 
burning  the  town  seized  upon  the  population 
generally.  Experience  has  shown  that  among 
the  ignorant  and  excitable  a  series  of  accidental 
fires  may  start  a  passion  for  looking  upon  flames, 
and  thus  for  kindling  them.  The  proof  of  a 
conspiracy  was  the  flimsiest ;  but  popular  sus- 
picion and  fear  took  the  place  of  evidence.  The 
entire  case  rested  on  the  testimony  of  Mary 
Burton,  a  "  bought  servant  "  —  that  is,  an  im- 
migrant bound  for  service  for  her  transporta- 
tion —  to  John  Hughson,  shoemaker,  and  keeper 
of  a  tavern  frequented  by  sailors  and  negroes. 
Mary  Burton  was  prompted  and  encouraged  to 
add  to  a  charge  against  a  sailor,  three  negroes 
and  a  fellow-maidservant,  Peggy  Carey,  of 
bringing  and  receiving  stolen  goods  to  the  tav- 
ern, the  pretext  for  the  judicial  madness  which 
was  to  stain  the  records  of  the  colony.  She 
was  inspired  to  testify  that  some  slaves  had  met 
and  formed  a  conspiracy  for  setting  fire  to  the 
town.  Peggy  Carey,  under  threats  and  prom- 
ises, poured  forth  numerous  stories  of  plots, 
but  afterwards  contradicted  all  her  testimony 
except  such  as  related  to  thefts  and  corrupt 
living. 

The  common  council  met  and  offered  freedom 
to  every  slave  with  jG20  reward,  and  to  every 


290  NEW  YORK. 

white  £100,  for  the  conviction  of  any  incendi- 
ary. The  grand  jury  was  diligent  in  holding 
every  person  charged  with  petty  crime  as  a 
possible  conspirator.  In  a  proclamation  for  a 
fast  day,  May  13,  1741,  the  governor  joined 
to  the  war  with  Spain,  and  the  cold  of  the 
preceding  winter,  as  cause  for  prayer,  the  fact 
"  that  many  houses  and  dwellings  had  been 
fired  about  our  ears,  without  any  discovery  or 
occasion  of  them,  which  had  put  us  into  the 
utmost  consternation."  There  could  be  no 
doubt  about  the  consternation.  All  the  blacks 
were  put  under  surveillance,  and  thus  every 
household  which  kept  a  slave  had  the  terror  at 
its  own  hearth.  Every  lawyer  in  the  city  was 
enlisted  for  the  prosecution.  The  negroes  were 
kept  without  any  counsel.  Informers  were  set 
at  work  to  extort  or  to  manufacture  confessions 
from  the  prisoners.  These  were  numerous 
enough.  Twenty-one  whites  and  over  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty  slaves  were  thrust  into  jail. 
The  woman  Burton  was  carried  away  by  excite- 
ment, and  finally  inculpated  persons  of  such 
character  that  danger  from  that  direction 
checked  the  fury,  and  in  time  led  to  reaction. 
Religious  fanaticism  added  to  the  violence  and 
extent  of  the  panic. 

One  of  the  accused  was  a  zealous  preacher 
named  Ury,  against  whom  was   brought   the 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  291 

indictment  of  "  officiating  as  a  popish  priest," 
as  well  as  of  engaging  in  the  conspiracy,  and 
some  of  tiie  negro  slaves  arrested  were  discov- 
ered to  be  Catholics,  who  had  been  captured  as 
prizes  from  Spanish  vessels.  Governor  Ogle- 
thorpe of  Georgia  wrote  to  Governor  Clarke, 
giving  "  intelligence  received  of  a  viliainous 
design  of  a  very  extraordinary  nature."  It  was 
no  less  than  that  "  the  Spaniards  had  employed 
emissaries  to  burn  all  the  magazines  and  con- 
siderable towns  in  English  North  America,  to 
prevent  the  subsisting  of  the  great  expedition 
and  fleet  in  the  West  Indies,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose many  priests  were  employed,  who  pre- 
tended to  be  physicians,  dancing-masters,  and 
of  such  other  occupations,  and  under  that  pre- 
tense to  get  admittance  and  confidence  in 
families."  This  was  regarded  as  confirmation, 
strong  as  holy  writ,  of  a  conspiracy,  with  dan- 
gerous leaders,  who  were  trusted  in  every  home, 
with  support  from  a  powerful  government  and 
an  all-pervading  church  organization. 

As  Cotton  Mather  seriously  narrates  the 
proofs  and  repression  of  witchcraft  in  Massachu- 
setts, so  Daniel  Horsmanden  gathers  the  pro- 
ceedings in  detail  to  justify  the  prosecutions  for 
this  alleged  conspiracy  in  New  York.  He  was 
a  recognized  leader  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony, 
a  member  of  the  assembly,  and  active  in  shaping 


292  NEW  YORK. 

legislation  and  public  policy.  At  this  time  lie 
was  recorder  of  New  York,  as  well  as  third  in 
rank  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and 
later  he  rose  to  the  position  of  chief  justice.  He 
wrote,  therefore,  with  an  air  of  authority,  and 
his  record  is  full  and  elaborate,  as  it  is  certainly 
pervaded  by  strong  convictions  of  the  guilt  of 
the  accused.  While  he  sat  during  the  trials  as 
third  judge,  James  DeLancey  was  chief  jus- 
tice, and  Frederick  Phillipse  was  second  judge. 
Judge  Horsmanden  recites  the  examinations, 
the  confessions,  the  contradictions,  the  entire 
processes,  which,  until  the  common  frenzy  was 
exhausted,  drove  judges  and  jurors  and  legisla- 
tors into  unreasoning  panic  and  cruel. injustice. 
We  are  enabled  to  understand,  but  not  to  excuse, 
the  phenomena.  Now,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that 
many  of  the  confessions  were  mere  ravings  ex- 
torted by  fear  or  promises,  and  many  others 
fanciful  exaggerations  of  loose  talk  or  petty 
criminality.  Some  of  the  testimony  seems  to 
point  to  a  sort  of  Voodooism,  and  other  parts 
would  be  comical  but  for  the  tragic  consequences. 
One  remarkable  feature  is  that  the  witnesses 
tell  each  his  peculiar  story,  as  if  each  were  vy- 
ing with  the  other  for  sensation,  and  thus  they 
convey  the  impression  that  invention  is  the  in- 
spiration of  the  shocking  details.  An  ignorant 
fellow  named  Kane,  who  swore  that  Ury  tempted 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  293 

him  to  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  describes  the 
ceremony  of  swearing  the  negroes  to  the  con- 
spiracy. He  avers :  "  There  was  a  black  ring 
made  on  the  floor,  about  a  foot  and  a  half  in 
diameter,  and  Hughson  bid  every  one  put  off 
their  left  shoe  and  put  their  toes  within  the 
ring ;  and  Mrs.  Hughson  held  a  bowl  of  punch 
over  their  heads,  as  Hughson  pronounced  a  fear- 
ful oath,  and  every  negro  repeated  its  words, 
and  then  Hughson's  wife  fed  them  with  a 
draught  of  the  bowl."  This  was  calculated  to 
disturb  excitable  natures,  and  to  convince  per- 
sons already  certain  that  a  conspiracy  existed. 
Unfortunately  for  the  case,  however,  no  other 
witness  knows  anything  about  this  ceremony, 
and  in  not  one  of  the  other  confessions  is  there 
any  sign  of  it.  Common  sense  concludes  that 
the  scene  was  due  wholly  to  Kane's  imagina- 
tion or  to  the  fumes  of  the  liquors  of  the  tav- 
ern. We  have  the  advantage,  which  the  court 
and  the  jury  had  not,  of  viewing  the  testimony 
as  a  whole.  Thus  its  contradictions,  the  in- 
herent impossibility  among  such  creatures  of  a 
conspiracy  for  wholesale  incendiarism,  and  the 
manifest  manufacture  of  a  case  out  of  the  shreds 
of  thieves'  and  carousers'  gatherings,  stand  forth 
against  the  conclusions  of  the  tribunals.  The 
trials  were  a  travesty  of  justice,  and  the  com- 
munity after  a  while  became  ashamed  of  them. 


294  NEW  YORK. 

The  book  of  Horsmanden  is  a  defense  on  the 
part  of  the  courts  for  their  action,  and  he  is  so 
far  impressed  with  the  weakness  of  his  case  that 
he  argues  that  the  "  history  of  popery  "  proves 
the  probability  of  the  alleged  plot. 

When  reason  fully  returned,  few  pretended 
that  any  conspiracy  existed  for  burning  the 
town,  while  the  proof  seems  conclusive  that  such 
fires  as  were  not  accidental  were  kindled  to 
facilitate  schemes  for  petty  thefts  and  sometimes 
burglary.  The  Spaniards  were  in  no  wise  con- 
nected with  the  matter,  and  it  is  needless  to  say 
that  no  priests  were  engaged  in  any  incendia- 
rism. Many  innocent  lives  were  sacrificed  under 
the  forms  of  law.  The  preacher  Ury  was  hanged, 
protesting  that  he  was  free  from  guilt.  The 
tavern-keeper  Hughson  and  his  wife  and  servant 
Peggy  Carey  may  have  deserved  the  gallows 
on  general  principles,  for  they  were  doubtless 
allies  of  thieves  and  burglars,  and  receivers  of 
stolen  property.  No  good  reason  exists  for  be- 
lieving that  of  thirteen  blacks  burned  at  the 
stake,  eighteen  hanged  and  seventy  transported, 
more  than  a  few  were  engaged  in  sporadic 
incendiarism,  while  all  were  punished  for  a 
conspiracy  which  had  no  existence. 

The  tragedy  of  the  alleged  negro  plot  led  to 
an  increase  in  severity  in  the  laws  already  vig- 
orous and    cruel  towards   the  blacks.     It  also 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  295 

added  to  the  hostility  to  slavery  as  an  institu- 
tion, and  led  to  the  substitution  of  free  white 
labor  for  that  of  slaves  in  no  small  degree.  The 
chronicles  for  this  period  are  dark  enough  for 
New  York.  The  courts  of  1741  dealt  with 
colored  people  with  brutality  not  paralleled  in 
that  city,  except  by  the  mob  during  the  draft 
riots  of  1863. 

After  the  extremely  severe  winter  of  1741, 
and  the  terror  over  the  alleged  negro  plot,  fol- 
lowed a  malignant  epidemic  fever  in  1742,  by 
which  out  of  a  population  of  less  than  10,000, 
217  persons  died.  The  disease  is  described  as 
resembling  the  yellow  fever  of  our  Southern 
States.  The  succession  of  afflictions  was  long 
remembered,  and  determines  the  color  of  the 
annals  of  the  period.  Even  controversies  be- 
tween the  governor  and  assembly  gave  way 
before  such  competition,  and  the  condition  of 
the  colony  and  the  estimate  made  of  it  by  its 
own  people  and  in  the  old  country  were  affected 
by  these  incidents. 

The  administration  of  Governor  Clarke  ter- 
minated September  2,  1743,  when  he  was  su- 
perseded by  Admiral  George  Clinton,  who  was 
to  challenge  the  colonists  to  the  fight  for  self- 
government,  for  which  they  were  well  pre- 
pared. With  Clarke  they  had  been  engaged  in 
discussion,  and  perhaps  if  he  had  remained  he 


296  NEW  YORK. 

might  have  been  forced  b}^  the  claims  urged  in 
Britain  to  aggression  equal  to  that  of  his  suc- 
cessor. He  had  not,  however,  what  Clinton 
brought,  the  temper  of  a  sailor,  the  assumption 
of  the  son  of  an  earl,  the  creed  and  purposes 
of  one  bred  and  trained  and  living  in  the  circle 
of  British  nobility.  So  the  era  of  Clarke  was 
rather  one  of  preparation  for  the  conflict.  He 
had  much  more  capacity  for  affairs  than  Clinton, 
and  was  assiduous  and  diligent  and  watchful, 
which  his  successor  was  not.  In  habits,  regard 
for  popularity,  in  disposition  to  mingle  with 
the  citizens,  the  contrast  was  equally  marked. 
Clarke's  personal  qualities  enabled  him  to  put 
off  the  struggle  which  was  already  threatening. 
In  one  respect  Clarke  and  Clinton  w^ere  alike. 
They  both  illustrate  how  without  gross  scandal 
the  executive  office  in  the  province  could  be 
used  by  a  thrifty  person  for  personal  profit. 
Clarke  came  out  as  secretary  of  the  province 
under  Cosby,  whose  favor  he  won  by  zeal  and 
devotion,  and  he  became  clerk  of  the  council, 
and  then  a  member.  When  he  reached  the  ex- 
ecutive chair,  he  took  every  means  to  gather  in 
fees  and  to  increase  his  fortune  by  operations 
in  lands.  He  had  no  broad  edacation,  and  his 
influence  in  England  came  chiefly  from  his  wife, 
who  was  a  Hyde,  and  a  distant  connection  of  the 
famous  family  of  that  name.     He  sent  home  so 


COLLISIONS  AND  AFFLICTIONS.  297 

poor  a  picture  of  the  prospects  of  the  colony,  and 
especially  of  the  emoluments  of  the  governor, 
that  candidates  for  the  place  were  discouraged, 
and  he  managed  to  gather  in  his  profits  for  seven 
prolific  years.  He  returned  to  England  with  a 
fortune  estimated  at  ^100,000,  chiefly  gained 
in  the  province.  The  sum  was  immense  for 
that  period ;  but  Clinton  was  to  exhibit  almost 
an  equal  measure  of  the  possibilities  of  the  ex- 
ecutive office  in  New  York,  for  the  fortune  he 
amassed  was  estimated  at  £80,000  at  least. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

OPPOSITION  OEGANIZED. 

1743-1753. 

New  York  was  under  Governor  Clinton  in 
many  respects  more  completely  an  integral  part 
of  the  British  Empire  than  it  had  ever  been 
before,  while  the  centrifugal  forces  were  active 
which  were  to  lead  to  independence.  Tlie 
reason  for  this  union  with  the  government  in 
England  is  to  be  sought  in  the  plans  for  ex- 
tending French  power  westward,  involving  at- 
tempts to  secure  the  active  cooperation  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  such  a  pressure  along  the  north- 
ern and  western  waters  of  New  York  as  taught 
the  keen-eyed  colonists  to  allege  that  the  effect 
of  success  must  be  to  "  crowd  them  into  the 
sea."  Britain  was  preparing  for  the  war  with 
France,  of  which  these  French  aggressions  on 
this  continent  were  among  the  chief  causes, 
and  the  formal  declaration  in  March,  1744,  rec- 
ognized hostilities  which  had  been  hardly  con- 
cealed by  either  side.  The  British  government 
assented  at  last  to  the  plan,  so  often  urged  by 


OPPOSITION   ORGANIZED.  299 

the  colonists,  for  the  capture  of  Louisburg  and 
the  invasion  of  Canada,  and  promised  to  pay 
the  chief  part  of  the  cost.  It  failed  signally  to 
fulfill  that  promise,  and  within  three  years  New- 
York  contributed  £70,000  to  the  war.  Its 
northern  borders  bore  the  chief  share  of  the 
French  operations.  Oswego  was  abandoned  by 
the  traders,  and  the  settlers  drew  closer  under 
the  shelter  of  military  power.  Cannon  and 
money  were  contributed  to  the  expedition, 
which  gave  the  colonists  a  decided  victory  over 
the  French  at  Louisburg,  June  17,  1745.  The 
governor  asked  for  close  alliance  with  New 
England,  and  for  defenses  on  land  and  water, 
beyond  the  disposition  of  the  assembly  to  vote. 
It  was  a  dangerous  economy,  as  was  proved  by 
a  raid  by  French  and  Indians  from  Crown 
Point  upon  Saratoga,  November  16,  1745. 
The  surprise  was  so  complete  that  the  settle- 
ment of  twenty  houses  was  for  a  time  destroyed. 
Only  one  family  escaped,  twenty  persons  were 
scalped  and  killed,  and  a  party  including  one  of 
the  Schuylers  was  led  away  into  captivity.  All 
the  savagery  of  border  warfare  was  exhibited 
in  its  bloody  horror. 

The  assembly  soon  learned  that  prudence 
demanded  liberal  expenditures  and  a  broad 
policy,  while  it  was  none  the  more  ready  to 
exalt  executive  authority,  and  to  yield  to  dicta- 


300  NEW  YORK. 

tion  from  England.  Instances  can  be  cited  in 
which  jealousy  of  executive  suggestion  was  car- 
ried so  far  as  to  interfere  with  the  best  interests 
of  the  colony.  The  desire  to  check  expendi- 
tures defeated  some  measures,  but  others  were 
obnoxious  because  they  strengthened  a  power 
which  the  legislators  dreaded.  Governor  Clin- 
ton regarded  New  York  chiefly  as  it  could  serve 
British  purposes  and  enrich  himself ;  yet  it  must 
be  confessed  that  his  plans  for  defense  and  for 
keeping  the  Iroquois  loyal  deserved  support,  if 
lives  and  property  were  to  be  protected,  and  the 
rule  of  France  was  not  to  be  welcomed.  The 
assembly  was  willing  to  defend  the  province, 
even  to  help  conquer  Canada,  but  it  wanted 
at  the  same  time  to  assert  and  maintain  con- 
trol over  the  finances  and  to  hamper  the  royal 
governor  at  every  point.  If  the  governor  was 
regarded  as  wasteful  in  his  suggestions,  if 
legislators  felt  that  in  a  war  between  Britain 
and  France  the  home  treasury  should  meet  the 
whole  outlay,  if  criticisms  of  executive  action 
were  more  liberal  than  gifts  of  means  for  de- 
fense and  attack,  there  was  much  in  the  experi- 
ence and  situation  of  the  province  to  justify 
such  views  and  feelings  and  criticisms.  If  inci- 
dental harm  befell,  this  self-assertion"  of  the 
assembly  and  its  constituents  was  with  all  its 
mistakes  the  training,  costly  it  may  be,  for  in- 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  301 

dependent  existence.  The  assembly  bad  gained 
something  also  by  the  act  to  which  the  English 
authorities  gave  reluctant  assent,  in  1744,  re- 
quiring elections  for  members  at  least  as  often 
as  seven  years.  This  period  was  then,  as  it  still 
remains,  the  limit  of  the  existence  of  British 
parliaments,  and  New  York  could  secure  no 
more  frequent  elections  for  legislators. 

Immediately  after  the  raid  upon  Saratoga, 
the  assembly  declared  that  it  would  at  all 
times  concur  in  every  reasonable  measure  not 
only  for  the  defense  of  the  province,  but  for  the 
assistance  of  its  neighbors,  and  "  this  was  and 
ever  had  been  the  unanimous  resolution  of  the 
House."  It  did  provide  for  men  and  subsist- 
ence of  a  company  of  militia,  and  for  a  reward 
for  scalps  in  retaliation  "  in  case  the  enemy 
shall  commence  the  cruel  and  inhuman  practice 
of  scalping,"  and  a  report  was  made  for  the  im- 
pressment of  slaves  into  the  military  service. 
Six  block-houses  were  ordered  to  be  built 
between  Saratoga  and  Fort  William,  afterward 
Fort  Stanwix,  Mohawk  country,  and  the  de- 
fenses of  New  York  harbor  were  strengthened. 
When  the  aggregate  expenditures  of  these  years 
are  considered,  no  charge  of  parsimony  can  be 
maintained  against  New  York.  For  the  expe- 
dition against  Louisburg  the  province  had  con- 
tributed .£3,000,  and  Governor  Clinton,   who 


302  NEW  YORK. 

had  asked  for  more,  bought  provisions  by  pri- 
vate subscription,  and  sent  artillery  from  the 
royal  magazines.  In  1746  a  bounty  of  X6  was 
voted  to  all  men  enlisted  for  the  movement 
against  Canada,  and  this  was  soon  increased 
by  "  40s.  and  a  blanket "  to  every  recruit.  For 
the  same  purpose  the  sum  of  £40,000  was  ap- 
propriated, and  the  total  was  soon  raised  by 
separate  bills  to  j£ 70,000  for  various  military 
operations  within  three  years,  and  to  this  sum 
.£28,000  was  soon  added.  With  a  population 
of  only  61,586  the  province  kept  1,600  men  in 
the  field,  and  the  impressment  of  mechanics  for 
war  purposes  was  authorized. 

The  preparations  against  Canada  were  the 
occasion  of  serious  troubles.  Against  the  pro- 
tests of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  soon  to  be  pre- 
mier, who  feared  that  the  colonies  might  by  so 
great  an  expedition  of  their  own  learn  their 
own  resources,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  pledged 
the  home  government  to  pay  the  troops  that 
might  be  engaged,  while  a  British  fleet  was 
ordered  to  cooperate.  Parliament  finally  ap- 
propriated £184,000  to  settle  the  accounts  ;  but 
the  money  was  not  paid  at  the  time  it  was 
needed,  and  Governor  Clinton  was  in  constant 
anxiety  for  current  resources.  He  was  charged 
with  embezzling  presents  meant  for  the  Iro- 
quois   and  with   diverting   funds   voted   for   a 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  303 

specified  purpose  to  other  objects,  while  the 
troops  clamored  for  their  pay,  and  their  subsist- 
ence was  seldom  furnished  promptly  in  proper 
quantity.  As  commander-in-chief  of  the  ex- 
pedition he  had  ordered  the  seizure  by  force 
of  an  unlimited  supply  of  provisions,  and  his 
agents  were  charged  with  "  high  criuies  and 
misdemeanors"  in  obeying  his  orders.  Gov- 
ernor and  assembly  charged  each  other  with 
the  neglect  which  permitted  the  burning  of 
Saratoga,  and  with  fault  in  general  policy. 

The  time  had  not  arrived  for  the  conquest  of 
Canada,  and  the  preparation  added  no  particu- 
lar credit  to  the  colonies  or  to  the  home  gov- 
ernment. The  French  fleet,  sailing  in  Ameri- 
can waters,  directed  attention  to  defense  of  the 
coasts.  The  alarm  was  relieved  by  storms, 
which  scattered  the  vessels.  By  the  Treaty  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  October  8,  1748,  even  Louis- 
burg  was  given  back  to  the  French,  and  the 
New  York  assembly  was  fully  justified  in  its 
conviction  that  success  could  not  come  to  the 
operations  as  they  were  conducted. 

The  preparations  for  the  Canada  expedition 
had  already  brought  the  Northern  colonies  into 
close  relations,  and  these  were  continued  and 
improved  after  that  expedition  had  been  aban- 
doned. The  Six  Nations  came  also  into  renewed 
importance,  and  evidence  was  not  lacking  that 


304  NEW  YORK. 

French  emissaries  were  artfully  at  work  among 
them.  Governor  Clinton  was  blamed  for  inter- 
fering with  the  influence  of  the  commissioners 
of  the  province,  and  especially  for  sending  his 
chief  adviser,  Cadwallader  Colden,  to  negotiate 
with  the  tribes.  They  were  restive,  and  ques- 
tions affecting  them  arose  frequently.  In  1744, 
an  important  council  was  held  in  Albany  to 
adjust  matters  of  which  Virginia  complained. 
The  greed  of  the  land  speculators  was  bearing 
its  natural  fruit.  Hendrik,  a  Mohican  chief 
adopted  by  the  Mohawks,  who  was  one  of 
the  "  kings  "  whom  Schuyler  presented  before 
Queen  Anne,  to  appeals  for  his  aid  retorted : 
"  You  have  taken  the  land  of  the  Mohicans  (in 
New  England),  and  driven  us  away,"  and  he 
predicted  the  same  result  with  the  Mohawks. 
When  the  French  Indians  ravaged  Western 
Massachusetts,  the  appeals  of  New  York  to 
the  Iroquois  became  more  urgent,  and  the  pres- 
ents more  liberal.  In  a  council  in  1746,  the 
tribes  were  divided  in  sentiment ;  but  the  Mo- 
hawks, Onondagas,  and  Senecas  favored  alli- 
ance with  the  English,  and  the  confederacy  was 
arrayed  on  that  side.  In  October,  1746,  a  skir- 
mishing party  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
returned  with  scalps,  and  nine  warriors  went  to 
Montreal  and  so  deceived  the  French  officers 
as  to  be  employed  to   bear  to  Crown  Point 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  305 

despatches  which  they  handed  over  to  the  au- 
thorities at  Albany. 

Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts  had  pro- 
posed an  expedition  against  Crown  Point  in  the 
winter  of  1747,  and  Governor  Clinton  approved 
the  plan ;  but  the  council  learned  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  bring  the  Iroquois  into 
the  movement  in  season,  and  by  general  consent 
the  project  was  abandoned.  In  a  letter  dated 
May  30,  1747,  Colonel  Johnson  asked  for  means 
to  pay  for  twenty-nine  scalps  and  prisoners 
brought  in  by  his  skirmishers  that  spring.  The 
defense  for  such  a  ghastly  record  was  that  the 
routes  into  the  province  were  infested  by  hostile 
war  parties,  and  in  the  interior  the  ways  were 
dangerous  for  the  conveyance  of  supplies.  Mur- 
ders were  reported  even  as  far  inland  as  Her- 
kimer, then  known  as  Burnetsfield,  and  near 
Schenectady  a  trading  party  was  surprised  and 
many  killed  by  enemies  who  escaped  before  their 
pursuers.  On  Lake  Champlain  and  at  Sara- 
toga, signs  were  frequent  that  the  French  and 
their  red  allies  were  watching  for  opportunity  for 
successful  attack.  As  a  part  of  the  Fiench 
activity  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  a  mission 
was  established  in  1749,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Oswegatchie,  and  called  La  Presentation,  and 
on  its  site  Ogdensburg  has  grown.  There  and 
at  Fort  Levi,  built  ten  years  later  on  Chimney 


306  NEW  YORK. 

Island,  was  a  centre  of  French  operations,  and 
there  finally  the  last  resistance  was  offered  to 
British  arms  in  1760. 

The  struggles  relative  to  control  over  raising 
and  expending  the  revenue  kept  the  treasury 
at  a  low  ebb,  and  as  a  consequence  means  were 
lacking  to  feed  and  pay  the  troops  on  the  fron- 
tier. Officers  were  resigning,  and  some  of  them 
were  sued  for  pay  by  their  soldiers.  The  men 
were  barely  restrained  from  open  mutiny. 

The  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  came  at  the 
right  moment  to  enable  the  province  to  confront 
serious  internal  controversies.  Governor  Clin- 
ton lacked  tact  to  adjust  them,  even  if  they  had 
not  been  by  their  nature  sure  to  culminate  at 
last  in  deadly  conflict.  He  received  from  White- 
hall instructions  which  he  relied  on  such  lead- 
ers of  the  colony  as  he  for  the  time  accepted 
as  advisers,  to  carry  out.  His  confidant,  when 
he  first  entered  on  his  administration,  was  Chief 
Justice  DeLancey,  a  man  of  ability  and  skill  in 
affairs,  with  a  will  of  his  own,  and  not  content 
to  echo  the  behests  of  anybody,  even  of  a  royal 
governor.  The  story  is  that  he  went  into  op- 
position on  account  of  a  personal  quarrel  with 
Governor  Clinton  "over  his  cups."  He  was 
able,  in  the  controversies  that  followed,  to  show 
other  cause  for  support  of  the  privileges  of  the 
assembly  and  the  peoj)le,  ;uid  to  render  good 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  307 

service  to  them.  Before  Clinton's  retirement 
DeLancey  was  found  again  in  approaching  ac- 
cord with  the  governor,  in  order,  as  the  gossip 
of  the  times  alleged,  to  make  sure  of  the  post  of 
lieutenant  governor,  for  which  a  commission  had 
been  issued  for  him  and  not  delivered.  Clinton 
had  the  power  to  withhold  the  commission,  and 
thus  make  Cadwallader  Colden,  who  was  presi- 
dent of  the  council,  acting  executive. 

Colden  had  in  recent  years  proved  himself 
an  adviser  even  more  conversant  with  colonial 
business  than  DeLancey,  and  not  inferior  in 
talent  and  acquirements,  diligent  and  aggressive 
to  the  last  degree.  He  had  already  been  en- 
gaged in  the  affairs  of  New  York  for  a  genera- 
tion. He  was  a  scientist  and  author  of  no  mean 
qualities,  and  had  studied  the  history  of  the 
Iroquois  and  the  resources  of  the  province  with 
a  scholar's  thoroughness.  His  writings  on  these 
themes  are  of  enduring  value.  A  Scotchman 
by  birth  and  a  graduate  in  medicine  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  he  illustrated  the  qualities 
of  his  race  and  his  education.  He  migrated  to 
Philadelphia  in  1716,  and  Governor  Hunter  in- 
vited him  to  become  surveyor-general  in  1718, 
He  had  since  that  time  been  intimate  with  every 
administration.  Introduced  by  Governor  Bur- 
net as  a  member  of  the  council,  he  had  often 
acted  as  its  chief  in  fact.     He  gave  especial  at- 


308  NEW  YORK. 

tention  to  Indian  matters,  but  lie  was  at  home 
in  all  branches  of  colonial  administration.  The 
addresses  of  Governor  Clinton  were  attributed 
to  him ;  and  no  important  executive  act  for  a 
long  time  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  assembly, 
taken  without  his  suggestion  and  direction.  In 
1749,  Golden  gave  way  as  practically  premier  to 
Alexander  and  Smith,  whose  rank  as  lawyers 
and  influence  as  leaders  of  opinion  previous 
events  had  developed. 

On  the  popular  side  the  pen  was  wielded  for 
formal  arguments  and  popular  appeals  by  Judge 
Horsmanden,  whose  special  pleading  relative  to 
the  alleged  negro  conspiracy  proves  how  intense 
were  his  zeal  and  devotion  to  the  cause  which  he 
espoused.  David  Jones,  speaker  of  the  assem- 
bly, took  a  large  share  in  the  controversies  of 
these  times  against  executive  dictation. 

More  busy,  and  prominent  in  more  fields  than 
any  factional  leader  in  these  times,  was  Golonel 
William  Johnson,  who  was  appointed  to  the 
chief  command  of  the  New  York  levies,  and 
was  already  accounted  as  exercising  a  wider  and 
more  direct  control  over  the  Iroquois  than  any 
other  person.  He  was  born  in  county  Down, 
Ireland,  in  1715,  and  in  1738  was  brought  over 
to  take  charge  of  an  estate  belonging  to  his 
uncle  in  the  Mohawk  Valley.  This  uncle  was 
Sir  Peter  Warren,  who  commanded  the  British 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  309 

fleet  in  American  waters  in  the  early  years  of 
Clinton's  administration ;  and,  as  he  was  a 
brother-in-law  of  Chief  Justice  DeLancey,  he 
was  able  to  push  forward  his  energetic  and 
sturdy  nephew.  Johnson  made  his  home  in  the 
town  which  still  bears  his  name,  and  lived  with 
the  Mohawks  as  one  of  them,  and  was  adopted 
by  them  as  a  war-chief.  He  identified  himself 
with  the  cause  of  the  governor,  and  through  his 
long  career  was  intense  in  his  loyalty  to  the  ex- 
ecutive of  the  province  and  to  the  British  crown. 
Governor  Clinton  soon  introduced  him  to  the 
council,  employed  him  in  dealings  with  the  Iro- 
quois, and  raised  him  in  military  affairs  over 
the  heads  of  all  other  colonial  officers.  In  1746 
he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Clinton  superin- 
tendent of  Indian  affairs.  While  in  command 
of  the  troops  and  holding  these  relations  to  the 
red  men,  he  also  prosecuted  the  incongruous 
business  of  a  contractor  of  supplies  for  both. 

The  controversies  between  the  royal  governor 
and  the  assembly  involved  no  new  principles, 
but  became  more  grave  by  the  persistence  of 
both  sides.  Clinton  was  blunt  and  defiant  in 
his  language.  He  told  the  assembly  that  it 
*'  had  no  authority  to  sit  but  by  the  king's  com- 
mission and  instructions  "  to  him.  "  Every 
branch  of  this  legislature  may  be  criminal  in 
the  eye  of  the  law ;  and  there  is  a  power  able 


310  NEW  YORK. 

to  punish  you,  and  that  will  punish  you,  if  you 
provoke  that  power  to  do  it  by  your  misbe- 
havior ;  otherwise  you  must  think  yourselves 
independent  of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain." 
The  assembly  was  no  less  bold,  and  passed  a 
remonstrance  which  Clinton  refused  to  receive, 
and  forbade  Parker,  the  public  printer,  to  pub- 
lish. The  governor  was  plainly  told  that  his 
order  "  was  arbitrary  and  illegal,  in  open  vio- 
lation of  the  privileges  of  the  House  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press."  The  remonstrance  was 
published,  and  aggravated  hostility  to  the  gov- 
ernor. The  asseaibly  held  fast  to  its  control 
of  the  revenue,  and  after  several  refusals  Clinton 
was  glad  to  accept  the  appropriations  with  the 
restrictions  affixed. 

From  Whitehall,  April  2,  1751,  came  a  re- 
port asking  for  an  act  for  a  perpetual  revenue 
"  upon  the  plan  of  that  which  had  been  passed 
in  Jamaica,"  and  "  all  the  claims  of  present 
factions  "  would  be  set  at  rest.  Clinton  ap- 
pealed to  the  king  to  "  make  a  good  example 
for  all  America,  by  regulating  the  government 
of  New  York  ; "  for  he  was  convinced  that  "  the 
remedy  must  come  from  a  more  powerful  au- 
thority than  any  in  America."  The  assembly 
advanced  a  step  when  it  refused  to  grant  Indian 
appropriations  unless  it  was  allowed  to  nomi- 
nate the  commissioners,  and    it    claimed  that 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  311 

the  "  powers  of  the  militia  can  only  be  put  in 
execution  by  the  authority  of  the  assembly." 
Clinton  grew  weary  of  these  "  graspings  after 
more  power"  by  the  legislature,  and  the  home 
authorities  attributed  some  of  the  friction  to  his 
hostile  relations  with  that  body. 

The  peace  with  France  was  proving  itself 
unreal.  Bands  of  French  and  Indians  on  the 
frontiers  and  lakes  were  causing  frequent  alarms. 
The  Iroquois  were  growing  restive  under  the 
pressure  of  the  greed  and  fraud  of  the  land 
speculators.  The  Mohawk  Hendrik,  with  seve- 
ral other  chiefs,  in  1753  carried  their  reproaches 
to  governor  and  assembly  in  New  York,  and 
receiving  little  satisfaction,  declared  :  "  By  and 
by,  you  will  expect  to  see  the  Five  Nations, 
which  you  shall  not  see  ;  for  as  soon  as  we 
reach  home,  we  will  send  a  belt  of  wampum  to 
our  brethren  to  acquaint  them  the  covenant 
chain  is  broken  between  you  and  us."  Colonel 
William  Johnson  was  appointed  to  visit  the 
tribes  and  win  them  back,  and  he  succeeded  in 
preventing  an  open  outbreak. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Gov- 
ernor Clinton  was  summoned  to  the  honorable 
repose  of  governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  and 
Sir  Danvers  Osborne  came  out  to  succeed  him, 
October  10,  1753.  Disappointed  in  the  colony, 
and  despondent  by  reason  of  domestic  grief,  Os- 


312  NEW  YORK. 

borne  was  barely  inducted  into  office  when  he 
committed  suicide.  James  DeLancey,  whose 
commission  as  lieutenant  governor  had  been 
delivered  by  Clinton  just  before  his  retirement, 
entered  on  the  executive  authority  October  12, 
1753. 

The  colony  was  showing  signs  of  life  outside 
its  activity  in  politics  and  in  the  field.  A  bill 
was  ordered,  October  22, 1746,  to  raise  £250  by 
lottery  towards  erecting  a  college,  and  from  that 
humble  start  Columbia  College,  known  at  first 
as  King's  College,  has  grown.  Trinity  Church 
gave  the  college  a  part  of  its  estate  in  1752, 
and  over  an  effort  to  place  the  control  under 
Episcopal  supervision  a  controversy  arose  which 
divided  parties  and  arrayed  partisans,  so  that 
in  politics  as  well  as  in  religion  Presbyterian 
and  Episcopalian  served  as  distinctive  titles. 
At  this  time  the  assembly  contained  no  college 
graduate  except  DeLancey,  and  in  public  life 
only  another  person,  William  Smith,  held  a 
collegiate  diploma.  Thirteen  young  men  who 
were  to  impress  themselves  on  affairs,  and  who 
are  named  in  Smith's  History,  had  secured  a 
liberal  education. 

Among  the  devoted  missionaries  who  came  to 
labor  among  the  Iroquois  as  teachers  of  the  arts 
as  well  as  of  the  Gospel,  college  graduates  were 
conspicuous.     This  work,  after  the  brief  visit  of 


OPPOSITION  ORGANIZED.  313 

Rev.  Mr.  Moor,  lapsed  for  eight  years,  and  was 
taken  up  again  among  the  Mohawks  in  1712, 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews,  who  was  assisted  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Barclay,  the  English  minister  at 
Albany.  Of  the  services  to  the  red  men  of 
Rev.  Peter  van  Driersen,  minister  of  the  Dutch 
church  at  Albany,  the  record  is  brief.  Rev. 
Henry  Barclay,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
an  Episcopalian  clergyman,  labored  efficiently 
among  the  Mohawks  from  1736  to  1746,  and 
at  his  departure  a  congregation  of  five  hundred 
Indians,  including  eighty  communicants,  assem- 
bled to  bid  him  farewell.  Two  years  later, 
from  the  schools  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  under 
the  direction  of  the  noted  Jonathan  Edwards, 
and  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  under  Dr.  Wheelock, 
began  that  stream  of  educated  missionaries 
who  adorn  the  annals  of  the  province.  In 
1752,  Rev.  Gideon  Hawley  made  his  first  visit 
to  the  Iroquois,  and  has  left  interesting  jour- 
nals of  his  services  as  evangehst  among  them 
for  many  years.  Other  zealous  men  engaged 
for  brief  periods  in  the  difiScult  work,  until  in 
1764  Samuel  Kirkland  went  forth  to  preach  to 
the  Senecas,  and  became  identified  especially 
with  the  Oneidas,  leaving  his  name  in  the 
churches,  affecting  the  current  of  events,  and 
commemorated  by  Hamilton  College,  which  has 
risen  on  the  foundation  of  an  academy  estab- 


314  NEW  YORK. 

lished  by  him  for  Indians  and  their  instructors. 
The  last  of  the  missionaries  to  the  Mohawks 
was  Rev.  John  Stuart,  who  served  among  them 
from  1770  to  1775  with  fidelity  and  usefulness. 
The  contrast  between  the  broad  plans  and 
steady  persistency  of  the  French  fathers  and 
the  fitful  zeal  of  the  Protestant  missionaries  is 
not  flattering  to  the  churches  and  the  political 
authorities  who  claimed  to  sustain  the  latter. 
If  the  decision  had  been  left  to  the  religious 
elements  opposed  to  each  other,  the  Iroquois 
and  through  them  New  York  would  have  been 
won  to  France  and  to  Catholicism. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE  FRENCH  WAR, 
1754-1760. 

By  the  accession  of  James  DeLancey  to  ex- 
ecutive control,  tlie  affairs  of  the  province  were 
put  on  a  new  footing,  and  it  was  able  to  make 
preparations  for  the  imminent  struggle  which 
involved  the  fate  of  the  continent.  The  acri- 
monious charges  by  the  assembly  against  Clin- 
ton were  continued  after  his  departure,  and  the 
royal  instructions  did  not  lose  anything  in  their 
imperative  tone.  DeLancey  possessed  the  arts 
of  conciliation,  and  avoided  conflict  where  that 
was  possible.  He  advised  the  Lords  of  Trade 
that  the  assembly  would  not  vote  support  for 
more  than  one  year  at  a  time,  while  he  urged 
the  legislators  to  place  the  money  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  governor  and  council.  His  relations 
with  both  parties  enabled  him  to  dull  the  edge 
of  controversy,  while  they  subjected  him  to 
criticisms  for  duplicity  hardly  deserved.  Com- 
parative peace  in  the  province  was  compelled, 
and  the  significance  of    local  quarrels  was  di- 


816  NEW  YORK. 

minished,  by  tlie  difficulties  which  arose  with 
France  and  culminated  in  a  great  war.  The 
English  were  charged  with  aggressions  in  Nova 
Scotia,  while  complaints  were  urged  that  the 
French  were  crowding  viciously  on  the  fron- 
tiers, and  especially  along  the  Ohio.  The  com- 
prehensive strategy  of  the  far-sighted  French 
governors  and  their  home  authorities  had  placed 
a  series  of  fortresses  from  Crown  Point  around 
by  Fort  Presentation  (now  Ogdensburg)  to 
Forts  Frontenac  and  Niagara  and  to  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  which  surrounded  New  York,  and 
threatened  it,  in  case  of  conflict,  with  invasion 
from  all  sides  except  the  southeast,  where  a 
naval  attack  was  conceivable,  and  even  the  In- 
dians looked  for  it. 

The  attitude  of  the  Iroquois  was  the  first 
factor  in  preparations  for  defense.  It  was 
primarily  to  secure  their  alliance,  and  with  that 
to  bring  all  the  colonies  to  united  efforts,  that 
a  congress  of  deputies  was  summoned  by  Lord 
Holderness,  the  British  secretary  of  state,  to 
meet  in  Albany,  June  14,  1754.  Lieutenant 
Governor  DeLancey  presided,  and  with  Joseph 
Murray,  Colonel  William  Johnson,  John  Cham- 
bers, and  William  Smith,  represented  New 
York.  The  New  England  colonies,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Maryland,  with  New  York,  sent  del- 
egates,  and   chiefs   of   the   Iroquois   came  for 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  317 

negotiations.  The  extent  of  the  domain  of  these 
tribes  was  admitted  by  Pennsylvania  by  the 
payment  of  <£400  for  lands  within  its  bounda- 
ries, and  their  title  was  recognized  beyond  the 
Ohio,  and  their  claims  extended  to  tlie  penin- 
sula of  Michigan.  Chief  Hendiik  rebuked  the 
English  for  their  weakness  and  neglect,  and 
bade  them,  "Look  at  the  French  :  they  are 
men ;  they  are  fortifying  everywhere  ;  but  you 
are  all  like  women,  bare  and  open,  without  any 
fortifications."  By  July  11,  the  Indians  were 
dismissed  with  presents  after  promises  of  co- 
operation against  the  French.  On  July  4  —  a 
day  to  become  historic  by  a  deed  of  which  this 
was  a  prophecy  —  a  plan  of  union  of  all  the 
colonies  was  agreed  upon.  It  was  proposed  by 
Benjamin  Franklin,  and  resembled  a  project 
suggested  by  William  Penn  as  early  as  1697. 
The  draft  was  reported  by  a  committee  of  one 
from  each  colony,  on  which  William  Smith 
represented  New  York,  but  the  form  and  sub- 
stance were  the  work  of  Franklin.  DeLancey 
and  Murray  of  the  New  York  deputies  opposed 
the  plan.  Beyond  adoption  by  this  congress 
this  plan  of  union  received  no  further  approval. 
The  authorities  at  Whitehall  were  alarmed  by 
it ;  not  a  single  colony  favored  putting  it  into 
operation.  It  served  a  valuable  purpose  in 
pointing  out  the  possibilities  of  tiie  future. 


318  NEW  YORK. 

Events  were  already  forcing  a  union  closer 
than  written  forms  could  establish.  Although 
war  with  France  was  not  yet  declared,  hostil- 
ities were  in  progress,  and  New  York  had  voted 
to  obey  the  injunction  from  Whitehall  to  repel 
force  by  force  in  case  of  invasion.  To  encourage 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  to  check  encroach- 
ments on  their  western  borders,  the  assembly 
of  New  York  appropriated  X 5,000  in  August, 
1754.  George  Washington  was  already  en- 
gaged in  operations  against  Fort  Du  Quesne, 
which  the  French  were  able  to  retain.  The 
French  were  active  also  on  the  Kennebec  in 
Maine.  Hoosick  in  Massachusetts  was  burned. 
War  parties  advanced  south  of  Crown  Point. 
French  vessels  bearing  troops  were  assailed  by 
a  British  fleet,  and  two  were  captured.  General 
Braddock,  whose  defeat  and  death  were  to  follow- 
speedily,  was  upon  the  sea  with  a  military  force 
from  England,  landing  in  February,  1755 ;  and 
Baron  Dieskau  with  4,000  men  arrived  in  May 
of  the  same  year,  to  hold  for  France  the  route  by 
Lake  Champlain  and  Crown  Point.  In  April, 
a  conference  of  governors,  called  by  General 
Braddock  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  at  which 
Governor  DeLancey  was  present,  agreed  on  four 
expeditions  :  one  to  reduce  Nova  Scotia ;  one 
under  Braddock  to  recover  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio  ;  a  third,  to  be  commanded  by  Governor 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  319 

Shirley  of  Massachiisetts,  was  to  drive  the 
French  from  Fort  Niagara;  and  a  fourth,  under 
William  Johnson,  now  major-general,  was  to 
strive  to  capture  Crown  Point. 

This  conference  also  recognized  the  difficulty 
of  raising  money  by  vote  of  the  colonial  assem- 
blies, and  expressed  the  unanimous  opinion  that 
"  it  should  be  proposed  to  her  Majesty's  minis- 
ters to  find  out  some  method  of  compelling  them 
to  do  it,  and  of  assessing  the  several  govern- 
ments in  proportion  to  their  several  abilities." 
DeLancey  at  home  rather  favored  duties  on 
imports,  and  the  suggestion  of  stamps  was  rec- 
ommended by  Golden.  Since  expenses  were 
growing,  and  heavy  charges  were  falling  upon 
the  home  government,  the  question  of  revenue 
was  attaining  larger  and  more  threatening  pro- 
portions, and,  as  would  appear,  especially  in 
New  York. 

By  the  original  plan.  New  York  was  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  military  movements  of  1755 ;  and 
the  failure  of  Braddock's  expedition,  which  oc- 
curred July  9,  cast  the  burdens  of  the  conflict 
still  more  on  this  province.  Invasion  swept  over 
its  borders  and  into  the  interior  to  the  head 
of  the  Mohawk,  and  so  as  to  cast  its  shadow 
even  to  Albany.  The  lines  of  assault  from  the 
side  of  the  colonies  extended  to  Niagara  on  the 
west,  across  the   St.  Lawrence    to  Fort  Fron- 


320  NEW  YORK. 

tenac,  and  to  the  defenses  of  Lake  Champlain 
at  Crown  Point  and  Fort  Ticonderoga.  New 
York  had  thus  to  bear  much  of  the  brunt  of 
the  war. 

The  assembly  began  in  1755  by  voting  j£45,- 
000  in  paper  money,  and  authorizing  a  levy  of 
eight  hundred  men,  and  soon  added  <£  8,000  for 
enlisting  men  in  Connecticut  for  the  armies 
under  Shirley  and  Johnson.  Another  vote  of 
£40,000,  and  raising  the  force  to  seventeen 
hundred  men,  exhibited  the  zeal  and  energy 
of  the  assembly.  In  1759,  the  quota  was  fur- 
ther raised  to  two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
eighty  ;  a  bounty  of  X15  was  offered,  with 
twenty  shillings  to  the  recruiting  officer,  and 
an  emission  of  .£100,000  in  paper  money  was 
ordered,  to  be  cancelled  in  nine  annual  install- 
ments. These  provisions  do  not  measure  the 
impositions  on  the  people.  When  Acadia  was 
conquered  and  its  inhabitants  scattered,  com- 
panies of  them  were  brought  to  New  York,  to 
be  fed  and  supported  ;  and  the  practice  of  billet- 
ing troops  on  the  citizens  aggravated  the  cost 
and  miseries  of  the  war. 

The  campaign  of  1755,  in  which  the  defeat  of 
Braddock  was  the  chief  tragedy,  was  disastrous 
in  New  York  at  every  point  save  one.  Shirley, 
who  paraded  as  commander-in-chief,  had  showed 
zeal  and  energy  in  urging  this  movement  and 


TEE  FRENCH  WAR.  321 

in  making  preparations  for  it,  but  he  marched 
no  further  than  Oswego  for  the  conquest  of 
Niagara.  Colonel  Philip  Schuyler  led  the  first 
regiment  of  the  expedition.  Boats  were  built 
at  Oswego  to  convey  six  hundred  men  by  lake. 
Shirley  followed  by  way  of  the  Mohawk,  and 
reached  Oswego  August  21.  He  was  delayed 
from  various  causes,  and  in  October  a  council  of 
war  decided  that  the  attack  on  Niagara  should 
be  postponed  for  a  year.  Shirley  was  to  have 
met  Braddock  in  victory  at  Niagara.  Both 
branches  of  the  plan  had  been  shattered.  The 
great  western  scheme  sank  to  a  mere  strength- 
ening of  the  defenses  of  Oswego.  Colonel  Mer- 
cer was  left  in  command  of  a  garrison  of  seven 
hundred  men,  with  instructions  to  build  two 
new  forts,  and  General  Shirley  took  the  re- 
mainder of  his  force  back  to  Albany.  The  piti- 
ful failure  led  to  criminations  relative  to  the 
causes  of  the  fatal  delays. 

In  the  summer  of  1755,  for  the  movement  to 
the  northward  from  Albany,  a  fort  was  erected 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson  Kiver,  on  the 
carrying-place  on  the  way  to  Lake  Sacrament, 
and  it  became  known  as  Fort  Edward.  Gen- 
eral Johnson  was  to  have  started  on  his  expedi- 
tion at  this  time ;  but  trouble  with  General 
Shirley  at  Albany,  over  leadership  of  the  Iro- 
quois, and  a  lack  of  boats,  added  to  the  shock 


322  NEW  YORK. 

caused  by  Braddock's  defeat,  for  weeks  para- 
lyzed the  movement.  August  8,  General  John- 
son was  able  to  set  out  with  stores  and  artillery, 
and  with  him  were  fifty  Mohawks  with  chief 
"  King  Hendrik,"  and  Joseph  Brant,  then  a 
lad  of  thirteen  years.  At  Fort  Edward  were 
gathered  New  England  troops  under  General 
Lyman  and  Colonel  Williams,  with  two  hundred 
and  fifty  red  men.  August  26,  Johnson  marched 
with  three  thousand  four  hundred  men  to  the 
lake,  which  he  now  styled  Lake  George,  as  an 
assertion  of  the  title  of  the  British  king.  To 
this  point  General  Lyman  followed  with  his 
entire  force,  leaving  two  hundred  and  fifty  New 
England  troops  and  five  New  York  companies 
at  Fort  Edward. 

The  French  governor,  De  Vaudreuil,  had 
taken  his  precautions  early.  He  sent  Baron 
Dieskau  with  a  force  of  three  thousand  men,  of 
whom  eight  hundred  were  French  grenadiers, 
to  Crown  Point  to  hold  the  route  by  Lake 
Champlain.  From  Crown  Point  Dieskau  led 
two  hundred  French  regulars,  seven  hundred 
Canadians,  and  six  hundred  Indians,  to  the  head 
of  the  lake  with  the  purpose  to  capture  Fort 
Edward,  and  thus  to  cut  off  Johnson's  retreat, 
and  even  destroy  his  army.  The  French  com- 
mander, as  is  alleged,  through  the  treachery  of 
Iroquois  guides,  failed  to  surprise  the  fort ;  and 


THE  FRENCH  WAR,  323 

bis  Indian  allies  refused  to  make  an  assault 
against  cannon,  but  were  willing  to  march 
H  gainst  the  encampment  on  the  lake. 

September  8,  Johnson,  under  the  advice  of  a 
council  of  war,  sent  out  one  thousand  men  in 
three  parties  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Edward,  with 
Colonel  Ephraim  Williams  and  Chief  Hendrik 
in  command.  The  advance  at  a  distance  of 
two  miles  from  camp  fell  into  an  ambuscade 
in  a  defile,  and  both  Williams  and  Hendrik 
were  killed,  with  manj^  others.  The  retreat 
was  immediate,  and  was  covered  by  a  relief  sent 
out  from  camp.  There  Johnson  had  his  cannon 
in  position,  and  had  formed  a  rude  breastwork. 
The  French  regulars  began  the  attack,  and  tried 
centre,  left,  and  right,  but  were  met  by  men 
who,  Dieskau  said,  "  fought  like  devils."  The 
whole  French  force  was  brought  into  the  bat- 
tle, but  it  could  gain  no  foothold.  The  colonists 
seeing  the  enemy  waver,  leaped  over  their  de- 
fenses, and  by  their  bold  onset  drove  before 
them  the  French,  who  fled  to  the  woods  with 
broken  ranks.  Dieskau  fought  close  to  the 
breastwork,  and  received  four  bullets  in  his 
legs,  and  was  again  shot  in  the  moment  of  per- 
sonal surrender.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
died  in  England  of  his  wounds.  Johnson  was 
badly  wounded  early  in  the  action,  and  the 
command    fell    upon    General    Lyman.      The 


324  NEW  YORK. 

battle  raged  from  half  past  ten  in  the  morning 
until  four  in  the  afternoon.  Later  in  the  day- 
Captain  Maginnis,  with  two  hundred  New 
Hampshire  troops,  on  their  way  from  Fort  Ed- 
ward, came  upon  the  remnants  of  the  demor- 
alized French  army,  and  completed  the  rout. 
The  designs  of  De  Vaudreuil  and  Dieskau  were 
utterly  thwarted.  The  French  loss  was  four 
hundred,  in  killed  and  wounded ;  and  among 
the  killed  was  St.  Pierre,  the  victor  on  the  Mo- 
nongahela.  Of  the  army  of  the  colonists,  two 
hundred  and  sixteen  were  killed  and  ninety-six 
wounded,  and  forty  of  the  Iroquois.  The  Indi- 
ans insisted  on  returning  home.  The  French 
army  retired  at  its  leisure  to  Crown  Point,  and 
was  not  molested. 

General  Johnson  has  been  criticised  for  not 
yielding  to  General  Lyman's  appeal  to  pursue 
Dieskau's  routed  army,  and  for  failing  to  move 
promptly  against  Crown  Point.  Such  censure 
is  easy  after  the  event.  The  colonial  troops 
were  new,  and  their  commanders  were  learning 
how  to  fight  battles.  The  enemy  included  vet- 
erans of  France,  and  artillery  and  defenses  were 
strong  at  Crown  Point.  The  battle  of  Lake 
George  was  a  decided  victory,  won  by  a  superior 
force,  it  is  true,  but  not  pressed  to  the  conceiv- 
able advantages.  It  was  the  one  gleam  of  tri- 
umph within  the  colonies  in  the  campaign  of 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  325 

1755,  and  checked  the  demoralization  which 
the  disaster  to  Braddock  was  threatening.  Tlie 
home  government  rewarded  Jobnson  with  a 
baronetcy,  although  he  closed  the  campaign  with 
this  battle,  and  set  about  building  Fort  William 
Henry,  on  the  site  of  the  battle,  while  the 
French  erected  works  at  Ticonderoga. 

In  December,  Shirley,  who  had  become  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  British  forces  in  Amer- 
ica, summoned  the  governors  to  a  conference  in 
New  York,  and  proposed  a  winter  campaign 
against  Ticonderoga,  but  the  attempt  was  not 
made.  Shirley  was,  on  the  contrary,  held  cen- 
surable for  the  lack  of  success  in  the  Niagara 
expedition,  and  was  removed  from  command. 

Sir  Charles  Hardy  came  out  as  governor  of 
New  York,  September  3,  1755,  bat  DeLan- 
cey  continued  as  lieutenant  governor,  dividing 
emoluments  with  his  chief ;  and  the  interrup- 
tion of  his  executive  power  was  only  nominal, 
until  June  3,  1757,  when,  as  Rear  Admiral,  Sir 
Charles  took  command  of  the  expedition  against 
Louisburg,  and  did  not  return  to  the  province. 

Parliament  decided  to  maintain  a  permanent 
army  in  America,  and  the  commander-in-chief, 
the  Earl  of  Loudon,  arrived  in  New  York  July 
23,  1756.  War  between  France  and  England 
had  been  declared.  General  Abercrombie  and 
General  Webb  were  already  in  the  province, 


326  NEW  YORK. 

and  the  British  regulars  under  them  numbered 
three  thousand.  These  troops  were  quartered 
on  the  inhabitants,  and  their  officers  gave  more 
attention  to  quarters  than  to  military  service. 
Lord  Loudon  had  oyer  ten  thousand  men  sub- 
ject to  his  orders,  and  there  was  need  for  prompt 
movement.  Savages  were  ravaging  the  counties 
of  Ulster  and  Orange ;  the  French  were  showing 
dangerous  activity  ;  and  soon  a  new  commander, 
the  Marquis  de  Montcalm,  assumed  the  aggres- 
sive. They  held  their  position  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  They  were  threatening  the  supplies 
which  were  conveyed  by  way  of  the  Mohawk, 
Oneida  Lake,  and  the  Onondaga  River  to  Os- 
wego. March  27,  1756,  a  party  of  four  hundred 
French  and  Indians  under  De  Levi  penetrated 
to  Fort  Bull,  where  Rome  now  stands.  Three 
small  works  had  been  built  at  this  point.  Lieu- 
tenant Bull  destroyed  two  to  prevent  their  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  third 
De  Levi  captured  and  razed  to  the  ground,  and 
bore  the  garrison  of  thirty  prisoners  to  Montreal, 
where  he  reported  with  the  loss  of  three  men. 
In  May,  De  Villiers  with  eight  hundred  follow- 
ers, from  a  thicket  near  the  mouth  of  Sandy 
Creek,  struck  out  at  the  parties  bearing  supplies 
to  Oswego.  Colonel  Bradstreet,  a  New  York 
officer,  repulsed  one  of  such  attacks  made  July 
12.     He  kept  in  motion  between  Albany  and 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  327 

Oswego  on  the  line  of  the  Mohawk  and  Oneida 
Lake,  forty  companies  of  boatmen  of  fifty  men 
each.  He  succeeded  in  throwing  into  Oswego 
abundant  provisions  and  ammunition.  He  fore- 
saw the  coming  invasion,  and  gave  early  warning 
at  Albany  of  the  gathering  of  an  army  of  thirteen 
hundred  French  regulars,  seventeen  hundred 
Canadians,  and  many  Indians,  on  the  upper  St. 
Lawrence.  General  Webb  was  ordered  to  lead 
his  regiment  for  the  relief  of  Oswego,  but  he 
dawdled  on  the  way,  and  advanced  no  further 
than  the  head-waters  of  the  Mohawk.  He  was 
afraid  of  attack  even  there,  and  felled  trees  for 
defense.  He  received  at  this  point  word  of  the 
disaster  he  was  sent  to  prevent,  and  fled  in  haste 
to  German  Flats,  where  he  was  met  by  Sir  Will- 
iam Johnson,  who  started  from  Albany,  August 
20,  with  two  battalions  of  militia  and  three  hun- 
dred red  men,  to  aid  in  relieving  Oswego ;  but 
news  of  its  fall  prevented  his  further  advance. 

Montcalm  acted  differently  from  the  English 
generals.  August  5,  he  reviewed  his  army  at 
Fort  Frontenac,  and  the  same  evening  trans- 
ported it  to  Sackets  Harbor.  August  18,  he 
captured  Fort  Ontario,  an  outpost  at  Oswego, 
and  turned  its  guns  on  the  main  fortifications, 
in  which  Mercer,  the  commander,  was  soon 
killed,  and  a  breach  made  in  the  walls.  The 
next  day,  the  entire  force  of  sixteen  hundred 


328  NEW  YORK. 

men,  including  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  sur- 
rendered, with  one  hundred  and  twenty  cannon, 
six  war  vessels,  three  hundred  boats,  stores, 
ammunition,  and  three  chests  of  money.  The 
prisoners  were  protected  by  Montcalm  from 
butchery  by  the  savages,  and  were  taken  to  Mon- 
treal. In  order  to  appease  the  Iroquois  the  con- 
querors destroyed  all  the  works  at  Oswego,  and 
abandoned  the  site.  The  consequences  of  the 
French  victory  were  grave,  and  put  the  colonial 
alliance  with  the  Six  Nations  in  peril.  The  Earl 
of  Loudon  began  and  ended  his  active  career  in 
New  York  with  this  disastrous  campaign. 

In  1757  he  started  on  an  expedition  against 
Louisburg,  and  abandoned  it,  returning  to  New 
York  to  bluster  and  lie  idle.  New  York  and 
the  neighboring  colonies  were  anxious  to  furnish 
militia  to  act  with  the  regulars.  But  the  royal 
commanders  were  shamefully  incompetent,  and 
would  not  let  the  provincial  leaders  take  the 
necessary  measures.  Disaster  and  even  disgrace 
were  invited  on  Lake  George  and  the  Mohawk, 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  enemy  seemed  to 
operate  at  pleasure.  July  23,  Lieutenant  Marin, 
a  Canadian,  with  two  hundred  men,  bore  away 
thirty-two  scalps  and  a  prisoner  from  under  the 
guns  of  Fort  Edward.  Four  days  later  Lieu- 
tenant Corbiere,  another  Canadian,  with  a  small 
party  destroyed  twefnty  boats  on  Lake  George, 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  329 

and  showed  one  hundred  and  sixty  scalps  as 
trophies.  Montcalm  was  the  inspiration  to  such 
achievements.  At  the  close  of  July  he  was 
drawing  his  lines  about  Fort  William  Henry, 
and  with  him  were  eight  thousand  French  and 
Canadians  and  two  thousand  Indians.  He  cut 
off  communication  with  Fort  Edward  by  a  de- 
tachment of  Canadians  and  Indians.  He  di- 
rected his  main  army  against  Fort  William 
Henry,  and  a  fortified  camp,  where  afterwards 
stood  Fort  George.  In  the  former,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Monro  had  four  hundred  and  forty-nine 
men,  and  in  the  latter  were  seventeen  hundred. 
Montcalm  used  artillery  with  effect,  and  Monro 
replied  as  he  could  by  day,  and  repaired  breaches 
by  night.  General  Webb  lay  at  Fort  Edward 
with  four  thousand  men,  but  repeated  the 
neglect  of  which  he  had  been  guilty  in  the  pre- 
ceding campaign.  General  Johnson  brought 
up  a  considerable  force,  and  was  advancing  be- 
yond Fort  Edward,  when  Webb  ordered  him 
back  and  sent  a  letter  to  Monro  advising  him 
to  surrender.  Montcalm  intercepted  the  com- 
munication, and  forwarded  it  to  the  victim  whom 
he  was  sure  now  he  had  within  his  toils.  But 
Monro  fought  on  for  two  days,  when  with  can- 
non burst  and  ammunition  nearly  exhausted, 
August  9,  he  yielded  to  necessity,  after  a  siege 
of  eight  days.     Fair  terms  were  made,  but  after 


330  NEW  YORK. 

the  surrender  drunken  Indians  assailed  fear- 
stricken  prisoners,  and  thirty  were  killed  before 
Montcalm  could  check  the  barbarism,  while  in 
the  siege  his  own  army  had  lost  only  fifty-three 
in  killed  and  wounded.  Fort  William  Henry 
was  destroyed.  This  disaster  was  the  result  of 
criminal  stupidity;  for  within  a  week,  Webb 
and  Lord  Howe,  who  had  just  arrived  on  the 
scene,  dismissed  to  their  homes  many  of  the 
militia,  and  others  in  disgust  abandoned  their 
camps.  They  had  been  ready,  and  they  ought 
to  have  checked  the  operations  of  Montcalm. 

He  was  left  to  strike  where  he  chose.  The 
autumn  added  to  the  disasters  of  the  summer. 
November  12,  a  party  of  three  hundred  French 
and  Indians,  under  Belletre,  penetrated  as  far 
into  the  interior  as  Palatine  Village,  and  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning  fell  upon  the  sleep- 
ing inhabitants.  Forty  were  killed  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  taken  into  captivity.  Three 
thousand  cattle  and  as  many  sheep,  with  grain 
and  the  autumn  store  of  provisions,  were  carried 
away.  The  village  had  received  warning  from 
the  Indians,  and  General  Johnson  had  appealed 
to  General  Abercrombie,  now  in  chief  com- 
mand, to  keep  a  force  of  rangers  in  the  field. 
Both  counsels  were  unheeded,  and  the  Mohawk 
Valley  was  left  open  to  such  devastation  and  to 
the  consequent  panic. 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  331 

Pitt,  the  British  prime  minister,  perceived 
the  situation  in  America,  and  said,  "  E very- 
door  is  open  to  France."  New  York  was  surely- 
naked  on  every  side,  and  was  suffering  from  the 
presence  of  British  troops,  who  did  not  shield 
her  from  repeated  and  almost  fatal  blows.  Pitt 
rose  to  the  occasion,  and  resolved  to  pay  the 
price  of  the  defense  of  the  colonies,  and  the  con- 
quest of  Canada.  He  accorded  American  offi- 
cers, up  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  equal  command 
with  those  sent  from  Britain.  He  asked  New 
England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  to  furnish 
twenty  thousand  men  to  march  against  Mon- 
treal and  Quebec.  The  year  1758  opened  with 
the  capture  of  Louisburg  by  Amherst  and  Wolfe. 
The  largest  army  yet  seen  in  America  was 
assembled  on  Lake  George,  and  began  to  move 
July  5.  Seven  thousand  British  regulars  were 
supported  by  more  than  ten  thousand  provin- 
cials. General  Abercrombie  was  in  command, 
Oliver  DeLancey  was  colonel -in -chief  of  tlie 
New  York  forces,  and  Lord  Howe  was  the  idol 
of  the  army.  Lake  George  has  witnessed  no 
more  splendid  spectacle,  and  no  waters  have 
been  the  scene  of  a  more  tragic  result.  The 
troops  landed  in  good  order  to  storm  Ticon- 
deroga.  They  became  confused  in  the  woods. 
Lord  Howe  was  killed  in  a  skirmish.  Aber- 
crombie hesitated  for  the  night.     In  the  morn- 


332  NEW  YORK. 

ing  of  July  8  he  ordered  an  attack  by  bayonet 
on  the  enemy's  works.  Montcalm  had  three 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  men,  whom 
he  sheltered  with  breastworks  of  trees,  with 
branches  outward.  The  British  could  not  get 
through  these  branches,  and  in  their  confusion 
were  shot  down  in  multitudes.  The  attack  was 
brave  and  persistent,  for  it  cost  nineteen  hun- 
dred and  sixty-seven  in  killed  and  wounded. 
It  was  not  renewed.  Abercrombie  retreated 
and  his  army  followed  him.  Colonel  Bradstreet 
alone  preserved  a  semblance  of  order  among  the 
demoralized  troops.  The  panic  swept  through 
the  province  and  into  all  the  colonies. 

Courage  was  restored  by  another  service  ren- 
dered by  Colonel  Bradstreet.  He  had  in  the 
early  spring  asked  permission  to  lead  a  swift  at- 
tack against  Fort  Frontenac  ;  but  Abercrombie 
did  not  see  the  advantage  of  diverting  the  at- 
tention of  the  French  from  Lake  George.  Af- 
ter the  disaster  there  the  commanding  general 
yielded  his  consent,  and  Bradstreet  hurried  for- 
ward. August  10,  he  was  in  consultation  with 
General  Stanwix,  who  was  building  the  fort 
which  was  to  perpetuate  the  latter's  name.  For 
the  projected  movement  eleven  hundred  and 
twelve  New  Yorkers,  under  Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Charles  Clinton  of  Ulster,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Isaac  Corse  of  Queens,  with  nineteen 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  333 

hundred  and  twenty-three  other  colonists,  and 
forty-two  Indians  under  the  chief  Red  Head, 
hastened  to  Oswego,  and  thence  in  open  boats 
crossed  Lake  Ontario.  Bradstreet  succeeded  in 
landing  without  opposition  within  a  mile  of  Fort 
Frontenac,  August  25.  The  next  day  he  turned 
his  cannon  on  the  works,  and  its  artillery  re- 
sponded. During  the  ensuing  night  entrench- 
ments were  carried  within  two  hundred  yards 
of  the  fort,  in  spite  of  the  activity  of  its  guns. 
August  27,  the  French  garrison  capitulated. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners  with  abundant 
stores,  several  cannon,  and  all  the  armed  vessels 
on  the  lake,  were  the  spoils,  which  cost  not  a 
single  life  on  the  provincial  side,  and  only  two 
or  three  slightly  wounded.  The  French  loss  of 
life  was  also  small.  The  exploit  was  won  by  the 
sudden  demonstration  of  a  force  large  enough 
to  be  sure  of  success.  Fort  Frontenac  was  de- 
stroyed, and  the  strategic  line  which  connected 
Fort  Du  Quesne  with  Montreal  was  broken. 
Tiie  achievement  shattered  the  plans  of  Mont- 
calm, and  went  far  to  remedy  the  blunders  and 
defeat  of  Aberciombie.  The  victory  at  Pitts- 
burg followed  in  November,  and  redeemed  the 
fame  and  the  fortunes  of  the  colonies. 

The  French  from  Canada  had,  with  inferior 
numbers,  and  resources  crippled  by  dearth  and 
the  death  of  domestic  animals,  almost  snatched 


334  NEW  YORK. 

victory  by  the  audacity  of  genius  and  the  splen- 
dor of  courage.  In  the  campaign  of  1759  Sir 
Jeffrey  Amherst  was  commander-in-chief  of  the 
British  forces.  The  plans  included  the  occupa- 
tion of  posts  at  the  west  from  Pittsburg  to  Lake 
Erie  by  General  Stanwix ;  the  capture  of  Fort 
Niagara  by  General  Prideaux,  and  the  concen- 
tration of  a  large  army  under  Amherst,  to  ad- 
vance into  Canada  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain, 
while  a  fleet  was  to  cooperate,  sailing  up  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  expedition  for  Niagara  gath- 
ered at  Oswego,  and  included  two  British  regi- 
ments and  a  detachment  of  royal  artillery.  It 
numbered  twenty-two  hundred  regulars  and  pro- 
vincials, and  seven  hundred  Iroquois.  Colonel 
Haldimand  was  left  with  a  New  York  battalion 
to  hold  Oswego.  Prideaux  sailed  July  1  for 
the  west.  July  5,  an  army  of  fifteen  hundred 
French,  Canadians,  and  Indians  attacked  the 
garrison  at  Oswego,  but  was  repulsed  and  retired 
the  next  day.  At  Niagara,  General  Prideaux 
was  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  cohorn,  July  15, 
and  Sir  William  Johnson  succeeded  to  the  com- 
mand. He  prosecuted  the  siege,  and  three  days 
later  a  breach  was  made  in  the  fort  by  the  artil- 
lery fire.  General  D'Aubry  attempted  to  raise 
the  siege  by  marching  from  the  western  garri- 
sons with  twelve  hundred  men  and  hosts  of  In- 
dian auxiliaries.    Johnson  met  them,  and  in  the 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  335 

battle  the  French  lost  one  hundred  and  fifty 
killed  and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  prisoners, 
including  General  D'Aubry.  Fort  Niagara  was 
surrendered  to  Johnson,  with  its  garrison  of  six 
hundred  and  eighteen,  July  25.  Its  fall  severed 
the  connection  of  the  French,  authorities  at 
Montreal  with  the  Ohio  Valley  and  Lake  Erie. 

General  Johnson  left  a  garrison  at  Niagara, 
and  returned  to  Oswego,  with  a  view  of  attack- 
ing the  French  posts  at  La  Galette  and  Oswe- 
gatchie ;  but  General  Gage,  who  was  now  in 
command  on  the  northern  frontier,  forbade  the 
movement. 

On  the  eastern  border.  General  Amherst  be- 
gan operations  July  22,  with  an  army  of  eleven 
thousand.  He  invested  Ticonderoga,  and  after 
four  days  the  French  blew  up  their  works  and 
fell  back  to  Crown  Point,  whence  they  again  re- 
treated as  Amherst  advanced.  He  was  delayed, 
rebuilt  forts,  and  failed  to  carry  out  the  plans 
of  moving  forward  by  this  line  against  Montreal, 
in  cooperation  with  General  Wolfe's  expedition 
up  the  St.  Lawrence.  A  raid  was  made,  Sep- 
tember 13,  by  Major  Rogers  with  one  hundred 
and  forty-two  men,  on  the  Indian  village  of  St. 
Francis  between  Montreal  and  Quebec,  which 
was  annihilated  with  all  the  barbarity  of  savage 
warfare. 

The  great  tragedy  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham 


336  NEW  YORK. 

was  enacted,  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  were  killed, 
and  Quebec  fell  September  17,  closing  tlie 
campaign  of  1759.  June,  1760,  three  columns 
moved  forward  to  capture  Montreal,  one  up  tlio 
St.  Lawrence  under  General  Murray,  a  second 
under  Colonel  Haviland  down  Lake  Cbamplain, 
and  the  main  army  from  Oswego  under  General 
Amherst.  July  16,  Oswegatchie  was  occupied 
by  the  forces  of  the  last  named,  and  La  Galette 
was  surrendered  to  him,  July  25.  The  Indian 
tribes  on  the  St.  Lawrence  were  won  over,  and 
August  30  the  three  columns  met  before  Mon- 
treal. September  8,  the  French  governor,  De 
Vaudreuil,  gave  up  all  of  Canada  and  its  depen- 
dencies to  Great  Britain.  The  policy  of  Peter 
(Quider)  Schuyler  was  consummated  by  the 
iron  will  and  brilliant  energy  of  William  Pitt. 
The  strain  of  this  conflict  on  the  province  of 
New  York  cannot  well  be  exaggerated.  The 
victories  of  the  French  arms  encouraged  the 
Iroquois  to  neutrality  and  some  of  them  to  hos- 
tility. They  always  had  grievances  over  the 
seizure  of  their  lands  by  speculators  and  the 
breach  of  treaties,  and  all  the  arts  and  influence 
of  Sir  William  Johnson  were  needed  to  man- 
age them,  and  especially  to  get  them  to  aid  the 
province  when  invaded.  Armies  moving  across 
the  whole  extent  of  country  from  New  York  to 
Lake  Champlain  and  from  Albany  to  Niagara^ 


THE  FRENCH  WAR.  337 

left  their  traces  everywhere.  The  arbitrary  sys- 
tem of  quartering  troops  on  citizens  was  ruin- 
ous as  well  as  oppressive,  especially  to  the  two 
chief  cities.  Settlements  were  driven  back  by 
the  ravages  of  the  French  and  Indians.  Manu- 
factures were  interrupted,  agriculture  was 
checked,  commerce  was  paralyzed.  Here  and 
there  blockhouses  and  small  forts  were  built, 
which  became  the  nucleus  of  hamlets  and  then 
of  towns.  Thus  Fort  Schuyler,  erected  in 
1759,  at  a  ford  on  the  Mohawk,  well  known 
to  boatmen  and  to  engineers  of  the  army,  was 
chosen  after  a  while  as  a  point  of  departure  for 
the  north  and  southwest,  as  it  was  naturally 
for  the  west,  and  about  it  gradually  gathered, 
beginning  in  1785,  a  hamlet  which  has  spread 
out  into  the  city  of  Utica. 

Other  topics  seemed  petty  in  the  presence  of 
the  great  war  between  the  two  foremost  nations 
of  the  world,  in  which  New  York  was  in  so  large 
a  measure  the  field  of  battle.  When  the  French 
power  fell  in  Canada,  the  importance  of  the  Six 
Nations  as  allies  was  greatly  diminished,  the  ap- 
prehension of  invasion  was  removed,  and  New 
York  especially,  and  the  other  colonies  in  less 
degree,  were  relieved  of  external  pressure,  and 
the  path  was  open  for  the  freedom  and  indepen- 
dence which  were  to  insure  prosperity  and 
greatness. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

PEEPAEATION  —  FIEST  STEP  TOWAEDS  UNION. 

1760-1765. 

The  fall  of  Montreal  closed  the  immediate 
interest  of  New  York  in  the  war  against  France, 
although  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  surrendering  to 
Britain  the  French  possessions  in  America,  was 
not  signed  until  February  10, 1763.  It  was  high 
time  for  the  province  to  devote  itself  to  the  tasks 
of  peace.  Its  white  population  was  in  1756  only 
83,233,  with  13,542  blacks,  and  yet  it  had  kept 
in  the  field  a  force  of  2,680  men,  and  when  the 
war  debt  was  summed  up  in  1762,  it  was  found 
to  exceed  £300,000  and  a  tax  of  £40,000  a  year 
was  assessed  to  meet  it.  Under  great  exhaus- 
tion and  stress  the  people  showed  commendable 
vitality  and  spirit.  An  election  for  members 
of  assembly  in  1759  developed  a  division  which 
long  affected  the  affairs  of  the  province.  To 
the  Episcopalians,  it  was  alleged,  too  much  favor 
had  been  shown  by  the  governor  in  organizing 
King's  (Columbia)  College,  and  members  were 


FIRST  STEP  TOWARDS   UNION,  339 

chosen  to  the  new  assembly  to  check  such  ten- 
dencies. This  opposition  expressed  the  popular 
feelings,  and  was  called  the  Presbyterian  party, 
or,  from  its  chief  leaders,  the  Livingston  party, 
wdiile  the  supporters  of  the  administration  were 
styled  by  the  name  of  Governor  DeLancey,  or 
the  Episcopal  party,  or  the  aristocrats.  The 
lines  were  already  drawn  which  deepened  and 
broadened  into  the  great  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence, and  were  continued  after  a  state  consti- 
tution was  adopted.  The  home  government 
was  moving  rapidl^^  in  the  course  which  drove 
the  colonies  into  revolt,  and  in  New  York  and 
elsewhere  men  were  rising  to  leadership  to  re- 
sist the  stamp  tax  and  to  organize  a  union. 

The  popular  party  had  more  than  an  ordinary 
title  to  a  personal  designation.  In  the  assembly 
of  1759,  consisting  of  twenty-seven  members, 
no  less  than  four  Livingstons  sat :  Philip  for 
New  York,  William  for  the  manor,  and  Robert 
R.  and  Henry  for  Dutchess.  By  alliance  by 
marriage  with  the  Schuylers  and  the  Jays  and 
by  its  wealth  the  Livingston  family  held  a  pre- 
eminence rarely  equaled  in  this  country.  In 
the  aristocratic  party  Lieutenant-Governor  De- 
Lancey was  supported  by  his  brother  Oliver,  by 
his  cousins  Philip  Verplanck  of  Cortland  manor, 
and  John  Baptist  van  Rensselaer  of  Rensselaer- 
wyck,  and  other  relatives  and  personal  friends 


340  NEW  YORK. 

This  family  element  was  shattered  b}^  the  sud- 
den death  of  Governor  DeLancey,  August  2, 
1760,  when  Cadwallader  Golden,  then  seventy- 
three  years  of  age,  emerged  fi-om  his  planta- 
tion in  Ulster  County,  to  assume  the  executive 
power  as  president  of  the  council.  He  souglit 
to  win  friends  by  courtesy  and  concessions, 
when  the  death  of  George  IT.  created  the  occa- 
sion for  a  new  election,  in  1761,  by  which  the 
popular  party  gained  additional  strength. 

New  York  had  more  than  once  insisted  on 
the  independence  of  the  courts  against  the 
executive  power.  This  question  now  took  on 
a  new  form,  and  led  to  serious  consequences. 
The  assembly  sought  to  compel  the  appoint- 
ment of  judges  of  the  supreme  court  with 
terms  running  during  good  behavior ;  but 
Golden  vetoed  the  measure,  and  insisted  that 
their  commissions  should  be  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  appointing  power.  The  difference  was  rad- 
ical :  should  the  judges  be  removable  only  upon 
impeachment  or  be  the  mere  creatures  of  the 
royal  authority  ?  The  Lords  of  Trade  declared 
that  the  former  policy  tended  "to  lessen  the 
just  dependence  which  the  colonies  ought  to 
have  upon  the  mother  country."  Except  for 
temporary  purposes,  jurists  could  not  be  found 
in  New  York  to  accept  places  on  the  bench 
at  the  executive  pleasure.     To  fill  the  vacancy 


FIEST  STEP  TOWARDS    UNION.  341 

caused  by  the  death  of  DeLancey,  a  chief  jus- 
tice was  imported  from  Boston  in  the  person 
of  Benjamin  Pratt,  who  arrived  in  October, 
1761,  with  a  commission  "  during  his  Majesty's 
pleasure." 

The  assembly  refused  to  pay  salaries  to  judges 
serving  under  such  commissions,  and  would  pro- 
vide from  year  to  year  if  the  terms  were  during 
good  behavior.  The  quit-rents  were  set  aside 
for  the  payment  of  Pratt,  while  the  other  places 
were  left  vacant.  In  this  contest  William  Liv- 
ingston, John  Morin  Scott,  and  William  Smith, 
"•  educated  in  Connecticut,"  as  Golden  says,  at 
Yale  College,  were  leaders,  and  "  maintained 
the  doctrine  that  all  authority  is  derived  from 
the  people." 

The  quit-rents  from  which  Chief  Justice 
Pratt  was  to  be  paid  were  the  receipts  of  the 
king  from  the  vast  tracts  of  uncultivated  lands 
which  had  been  granted  before  1708.  In  the 
assembly  of  1761,  by  the  efforts  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  an  act  was  passed  for  accurate  survey 
of  these  grants  and  for  the  collection  of  these 
rents.  Contests  had  arisen  with  the  Indians 
over  the  excessive  claims  of  the  holders  of 
patents,  and  scandals  were  numerous  over  the 
manner  in  which  patents  were  secured  by  the 
early  governors  and  their  favorites.  The  claim- 
ants held   their  lands  for  speculation,  and  so 


342  NEW  YORK. 

checked  the  incoming  of  settlers  of  small  means, 
who  relied  upon  their  earnings  for  support.  The 
evils  were  brought  within  bounds  by  the  official 
surveys  which  were  at  this  time  inaugurated 
and  enforced. 

Major  General  Monckton  was  designated  cap- 
tain general  and  general-in-chief  of  the  province, 
in  1761,  but  he  preferred  miUtary  service,  and 
took  command  of  the  expedition  against  Mar- 
tinico ;  Gates,  Montgomery,  and  Lyman  went 
with  him,  and  among  his  force  of  12,000  men, 
1,787  were  enlisted  in  New  York.  Tlie  emolu- 
ments of  the  executive  ofiBce  were  divided  be- 
tween Monckton  and  Golden,  while  the  latter 
exercised  the  authority.  Monckton  returned  in 
June,  1762,  and  remained  until  June  28,  1763, 
but  left  no  impress  on  affairs.  The  victories 
over  Spain  in  the  West  Indies  enabled  Great 
Britain  to  extort  a  treaty  of  peace  from  France, 
November  3,  1762,  and  it  removed  from  the 
British  ministry  all  restraint  in  dealing  with 
the  colonies. 

Peace  was  gaining  some  triumphs  amid  the 
din  of  war.  New  York  city  was  the  chief  town, 
but  the  county  of  that  name  was  in  1756  the 
fourth  in  population.  The  chief  counties  were 
in  their  order  by  this  test :  Albany  with  14,805 
whites  and  2,619  blacks,  total  17,424  ;  Dutchess 
with  13,289  whites  and  859  blacks,  total  14,148; 


FIRST  STEP   TOWARDS   UNION.  343 

Westchester,  11,919  whites  and  1,338  blacks, 
total  13,257  ;  New  York  with  10,768  whites 
and  2,272  blacks,  total  13,040.  By  the  census 
of  1771  New  York  stood  at  21,863  and  West- 
chester at  21,745,  with  Albany  at  42,706,  and 
Dutchess  at  22,404.  In  1756  the  whites  in  the 
whole  colony  numbered  83,223,  and  the  blacks 
13,542 ;  total,  96,765.  In  1771  Ulster  had  a  pop- 
ulation of  13,950  ;  Suffolk  of  13,128;  Queens, 
10,980  ;  Orange,  10,092  ;  Kings,  3,623  ;  Rich- 
mond, 2,847  ;  Cumberland  and  Gloucester,  af- 
terwards set  off  for  Verinont,  had  4,659.  The 
total  of  the  colony  in  that  year  was  148,124 
whites  and  19,883  blacks,  making  168,007  in 
all.  Albany  at  this  time,  it  will  be  understood, 
included  all  north  and  west  of  the  present  capi- 
tal to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Niagara. 

The  slow  growth  of  New  York,  as  compared 
with  the  other  colonies,  indicates  the  check 
given  to  commerce  by  the  navigation  laws,  the 
imposition  of  duties,  the  stamp  act,  and  the  con- 
sequent controversies.  Yet  New  York  continued 
to  be  the  chief  centre  of  imports,  while  it  lost  in 
exports.  In  1770,  of  the  total  exports  of  all  the 
colonies,  amounting  to  =£1,014,725,  New  York 
sent  out  only  £69,882,  while  of  total  imports 
of  £1,925,570  New  York  received  £475,991. 
The  shipping  of  the  colony  increased  from  1762 
to  1772  by  232  vessels,  reaching  709    in  the 


344  NEW  YORK. 

latter  year,  and  by  9,618  tons,  mounting  up  to 
29,132  tons  ;  but  the  men  engaged  in  seafaring 
fell  from  3,552  to  3,374  during  the  decade. 

NeAV  York  city  was  in  politics,  in  culture,  in 
social  display,  the  capital.  The  governor  re- 
sided there,  and  the  general  assembly  met  there 
unless  driven  out  by  sickness  or  some  other 
cause,  as  it  was  once  or  twice  to  Greenwich  or 
Jamaica.  The  British  commander-in-chief  and 
the  only  garrison  in  the  colonies  for  some  years 
after  the  close  of  the  French  war,  added  the 
peculiar  influences  which  gather  about  military 
quarters.  Newspapers  had  risen  and  fallen  in 
the  city,  where  at  this  time  three  —  the  "  Post 
Boy,"  the  "  Mercury,"  and  the  "  Journal  "  — 
were  printed,  while  the  colony  had  no  others 
until  the  '"-Gazette"  was  established  in  Albany, 
in  1771.  King's  College  fostered  a  literary  at- 
mosphere, as  it  taught  loyalty  to  the  throne. 
A  company  of  English  actors  visited  the  town 
in  1753,  and  in  1769  a  company  with  head- 
quarters there  set  up  its  stage  for  a  while  in 
Albany,  where  twelve  years  before  army  officials 
had  given  theatrical  performances  in  a  barn, 
to  the  scandal  of  m;my  of  the  inhabitants.  A 
plan  was  proposed  in  1767  for  an  academy  to 
promote  architecture,  sculpture  and  painting, 
and  the  useful  arts,  and  in  the  next  year  it 
gave   Philip   Schuyler  a    medal  for  erecting  a 


FIRST  STEP  TOWARDS    UNION.  345 

flax-mill  in  Saratoga.  Benjamin  West  came 
from  Philadelphia  to  practice  painting  in  New 
York,  and  doubtless  from  associations  here  ob- 
tained inspiration  for  one  of  his  best  known 
works,  "  The  Death  of  Wolfe,"  painted  in  1771. 
The  bar  of  the  colony  was  always  strong,  and 
furnished  several  of  the  leaders  in  the  struggle 
for  colonial  rights.  It  gathered  in  the  capital 
and  on  the  lower  Hudson  in  chief  part ;  but 
licenses  to  practice  were  easily  obtained,  so  that 
pettifoggers  also  abounded.  The  bench  was 
subject  to  political  influences,  and  was  therefore 
not  always  maintained  at  the  highest  standard, 
although  brilliant  names  adorned  it,  even  at 
this  period  and  in  larger  measure  afterwards. 

In  1760  rigid  provisions  were  enacted  for 
licensing  physicians,  and  in  1767  a  medical 
school  was  established  in  connection  with  King's 
college  ;  but  the  doctors  took  part  in  the  work 
of  settlement,  and  if  some  were  rough  and 
uncultured  it  would  not  be  strange.  Smith's 
and  Colden's  histories  and  the  political  papers 
of  the  day  prove  that  the  colony  was  not  desti- 
tute of  writers  of  a  high  order.  The  pulpit  from 
the  earliest  days  had  included  men  of  broad 
education  and  marked  ability,  and  the  contro- 
versy between  the  Episcopalians  and  other  de- 
nominations tended  to  render  ministers  promi- 
nent and  influential. 


346  NEW  YORK. 

While  New  York  was  the  seaport  and  centre 
of  commerce,  Albany  was  the  seat  of  the  fur 
trade  and  of  traffic  with  the  Indians,  and  from 
Schenectady  boats  started  on  their  slow  way 
up  the  Mohawk.  Attempts  were  made  to  work 
iron  in  the  spurs  of  the  Adirondacks  along 
Lake  Champlain,  and  at  points  in  the  High- 
lands of  the  Hudson,  and  some  pig  and  bar  iron 
was  exported.  In  1773  the  colony  built  £30,- 
000  worth  of  ships  for  English  buyers,  while 
ventures  were  made  in  other  manufactures,  to 
which  British  repression  proved  fatal.  The  fur 
trade  prospered,  and  agriculture  was  gradually 
improved. 

The  vast  estates  which  fell  to  the  patroons 
and  were  continued  in  their  families,  and  in 
those  of  the  Schuylers  and  Cuylers,  and  the 
manors  established  by  the  Van  Rensselaers  and 
Livingstons  and  Phillipses  and  Johnsons  and 
Cortlandts  constituted  a  peculiar  feature  in  this 
colony.  They  were  the  centre  of  almost  feudal 
power.  They  interfered  with  the  settlement 
of  small  farmers,  while  they  introduced  better 
cattle,  horses,  seeds,  and  modes  of  culture  than 
could  otherwise  be  used.  The  manor-houses 
were  the  seat  of  courtly  hospitality  in  summer, 
and  the  landlords  commonly  spent  their  winters 
in  New  York,  where  they  contributed  to  give 
that  city  the  reputation  of  gayety  and  display, 
and  devotion  to  recent  London  fashions. 


FIRST  STEP  TOWARDS   UNION.  347 

Sir  William  Johnson  was  a  landlord  who  lived 
with  his  tenants  and  the  Indians.  He  had  be- 
fore 1762  gathered  a  hundred  families  about 
him,  in  the  neighborhood  now  known  as  Johns- 
town, and  had  built  a  villa  and  a  lodge  becom- 
ing his  wealth.  He  introduced  sheep  and  blood- 
horses  into  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  de- 
veloped intelligent  agriculture.  He  gave  land 
to  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  whereon  to  build 
churches,  and  exerted  himself  to  promote  the 
education  of  the  Six  Nations,  assisting  in  the 
labors  of  Rev.  Dr.  Eleazer  Wheelock,  of  the  In- 
dian school  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  and  of  Samuel 
Kirkland,  whose  influence  for  good  became  so 
wide  and  enduring. 

Although  communication  depended  on  the 
natural  waterways,  for  the  roughly  worked 
roads  permitted  the  passage  only  of  saddle- 
horses  or  stout  two-wheeled  vehicles,  the  settle- 
ments had  been  considerably  extended.  They 
reached  the  head  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  where 
Bradstreet  had  established  considerable  works 
at  Rome,  and  they  were  scattered  along  the 
waterways  to  Oswego.  They  even  had  begin- 
nings westward  toward  Niagara.  In  the  Seneca 
country  and  in  the  Susquehanna  Valley  a  few 
whites  found  homes.  In  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  about  Oswegatchie,  and  along  Lake 
Champlain  and  the  upper  Hudson,  hardy  im- 


348  NEW  YORK. 

migrants  had  followed  the  armies,  and  had  re- 
mained after  their  withdrawal.  Fort  Presen- 
tation was  the  centre  of  considerable  trade  with 
the  Indians. 

Sir  William  Johnson,  by  reason  of  his  per- 
sonal standing  and  official  relations,  found  no 
little  occupation  in  adjusting  differences  be- 
tween the  whites  and  the  red  men.  Controver- 
sies over  the  claims  to  lands  threatened  more 
than  once  to  lead  to  appeals  to  arms  on  the  part 
of  the  original  owners,  and  apprehension  of 
outbreaks  was  constant.  At  Fort  Schuyler  a 
drunken  Indian  alarmed  a  household,  and  the 
members  in  a  panic  fled,  with  the  cry  that  the 
savages  were  loose  for  slaughter,  and  the  settlers 
were  not  restored  to  calm  until  a  strong  force  of 
militia  marched  to  the  scene.  When  Pontiac 
stirred  up  war  in  the  northwest,  and  the  Dela- 
wares  ravaged  the  frontiers,  the  Six  Nations 
were  at  first  believed  ready  to  join  in  the  assault 
on  the  whites,  but  Sir  William  Johnson  main- 
tained armed  watch  from  Crown  Point  to  Os- 
wego, and  fortunately  the  tide  of  conflict  was 
turned  away  from  New  York,  although  the 
Senecas  espoused  the  cause  of  the  great  western 
chief.  A  conference  at  Niagara,  and  the  march 
of  troops  under  General  Bradstreet  into  the 
Seneca  country,  with  the  personal  influence  of 
Johnson,  brought  treaties  and  quiet  for  a  time. 


FIRST  STEP  TOWARDS  UNION.  349 

The  British  ministers  were  busy  with  their 
schemes  for  getting  revenue  out  of  the  colonies, 
and  New  York  held  no  secondary  position  in 
their  estimates.  New  York  city  was  engaged 
in  a  commerce,  not  allowed  by  law  but  known 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  with  the  French  and  Span- 
ish possessions,  and  it  was  looked  upon  as  a 
proper  source  of  revenue.  This  province  had 
felt  more  keenly  than  any  other  the  burden  of 
providing  quarters  for  British  troops,  and  was 
most  alarmed  at  plans  for  a  standing  army 
in  the  colonies,  while  the  mixed  population 
never  cherished  special  affection  for  the  crown 
of  Britain.  The  strife  over  the  tenure  and  pay 
of  the  chief  justices  led  New  York  to  take  the 
first  step  of  formal  opposition.  December  11, 
1762,  the  general  assembly  adopted  a  memorial 
to  the  king  for  the  "  independency  of  so  impor- 
tant a  tribunal,"  which  otherwise  would  be  "  an 
object  beheld  with  terror,"  and  asking  for  a 
royal  hearing  on  the  subject.  This  document 
was  one  of  a  series  adopted  by  the  New  York 
legislature  in  this  and  the  succeeding  year,  bear- 
ing on  the  relations  of  the  province  to  the  king- 
dom. It  was  reported  and  doubtless  prepared 
by  Frederick  Phillipse  of  Westchester,  and 
Robert  R.  Livingston  of  Dutchess,  chosen  jus- 
tice of  the  supreme  court  this  year,  and  father 
of  the  famous  chancellor  of  the  same  name. 


350  NEW  YORK. 

The  memorial  received  no  attention  from  the 
ministry  ;  for  the  plan  had  been  adopted  to  use 
the  judges  as  a  part  of  the  machinery  for  Brit- 
ish control  in  the  colonies.  But  New  York 
had  found  its  voice,  and  kept  on  with  its  ap- 
peals to  the  authorities  in  Great  Britain.  Al- 
derman Philip  Livingston,  in  behalf  of  the 
merchants  of  the  chief  city,  in  the  preceding 
April  had  prepared  a  strong  argument  against 
the  sugar  act ;  and  the  assembly  unanimously 
approved  its  summary  of  the  hardships  under 
which  the  trade  of  the  colony  was  suffering,  as 
well  as  its  appeal  for  relief.  The  plea  was 
urged  in  behalf  of  every  interest  of  the  colony, 
and  was  full  of  statistics,  and  exhaustive  in  its 
treatment  of  the  subject.  The  same  able  writer 
and  far-seeing  statesman,  September  11,  re- 
ported an  address  to  Lieutenant  Governor  Col- 
den,  protesting,  with  many  expressions  of  loy- 
alty, against  the  acts  of  the  British  parliament, 
which  "  threatened  to  reduce  the  province  to 
the  deplorable  state  of  that  people  who  can  call 
nothing  their  own,"  and  calling  on  the  executive 
in  these  strong  words,  "  We  hope  your  Honor 
will  join  in  an  endeavor  to  secure  that  great 
badge  of  English  liberty  of  being  taxed  only 
with  our  own  consent,"  a  privilege  which  the 
sugar  act  invaded.  The  address  was  designed 
for  the  authorities  in  Whitehall,  but  they  were 
not  wise  enough  to  heed  it. 


FIRST  STEP  TOWARDS   UNION.  351 

New  York,  like  the  importunate  widow,  kept 
on  with  its  petitions.  October  18,  Philip  Liv- 
ingston reported  another  "representation  to 
the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,"  which  the 
assembly  adopted.  On  the  same  day  also 
addresses  reported  by  William  Bayard  were 
adopted,  to  the  lords  temporal  and  spiritual, 
and  to  the  house  of  commons.  These  papers 
were  not  excelled  in  clearness  and  vigor  of 
thought  or  force  of  language  by  any  utterances 
in  the  colonies  at  that  time.  James  Otis,  it  is 
true,  had  raised  his  voice  against  writs  of  as- 
sistance ;  but  Samuel  Adams'  draft  of  instruc- 
tions by  Boston  to  its  representatives  in  the 
general  court  followed  in  the  month  after  Liv- 
ingston's arraignment  of  the  sugar  act;  and 
Virginia  was  to  wait  until  1765  for  Patrick 
Henry's  resolution  and  stirring  warning  to  the 
king. 

The  New  York  assembly  was  systematic  and 
vigorous  in  its  discussion  of  the  relations  of  the 
colony  to  parliament,  and  its  petitions  embody 
a  complete  and  effective  statement  of  the  con- 
victions and  purposes  which  actuated  the  pa- 
triot leaders.  Far  less  than  justice  has  been 
done  to  their  authors,  and  to  the  assembly  of 
New  York,  for  their  courage  and  fidelity,  for 
their  eloquence,  for  their  worthy  championship 
of  a  great  cause.    While  Massachusetts  and  Vir- 


852  NEW  YORK. 

ginia  have  coined  for  current  use  the  speeches 
of  their  writers  and  orators,  it  is  still  necessary 
to  dig  out  of  the  official  records  the  text  of 
these  documents,  in  which  New  York  advocated 
high  principles  in  a  grand  way.  The  petition 
to  the  king,  after  reciting  the  services  of  the 
province  in  the  late  war,  proceeds ;  "  For  be- 
sides that  involuntary  taxes  and  impositions 
are  absolutely  and  necessarily  excluded  from  a 
state  of  liberty  ;  that  it  would  be  the  basest 
vassalage  to  be  taxed  at  the  pleasure  of  a  fellow 
subject ;  that  all  real  property  is  lost  whenso- 
ever it  becomes  subordinate  to  laws  in  the  mak- 
ing of  which  the  proprietor  does  not  participate, 
and  that  thus  to  treat  us  would  be  to  sink  us  into 
a  subjugation  infinitely  below  the  ignominious 
rank  of  the  most  tributary  states ;  besides  all 
this,  we  have  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  that 
most  powerful  advocate  with  a  wise  king,  to 
plead  our  cause  before  your  Majesty."  The 
damaging  effects  of  the  policy  of  taxation  then 
pursued  were  strongly  shown  in  relation  to  im- 
migration, industry,  and  trade.  Then  turning 
to  the  courts,  the  address  proceeds  :  "  Though 
we  could,  with  the  most  becoming  alacrity,  sub- 
mit our  lives  and  property,  and  that  we  hold 
dearer  than  both,  that  inestimable  liberty  with 
which  our  ancestors  have  set  us  free,  to  your 
Majesty's  royal  clemency  and  princely  direc- 


FIRST  STEP   TOWARDS    UNION.  353 

tion,  yet  the  unavoidable  delegations  of  that 
royal  authority  which  necessarily  expose  us  to 
ithe  rapacious  designs  of  wicked  men,  leave  us 
neither  rest  nor  security,  while  a  custom-house 
officer  may  wantonly  seize  what  a  judge  of  your 
Majesty's  court  of  vice-admiralty  may  condemn 
in  his  discretion,"  and  "  we  tender  our  humble 
petition  to  the  throne,  that  this  great,  this  grow- 
ing, this  mighty  evil  may  be  removed  from 
among  us." 

To  parliament  arguments  and  appeals  no  less 
clear  and  forcible  were  directed.  "  We  have 
enjoyed,"  declared  to  the  lords  these  evangel- 
ists of  liberty,  "  the  uninterrupted  privilege  of 
being  taxed  only  with  our  consent,  given  by 
our  representatives  in  general  assembly.  This 
we  have  ever  considered  as  the  inextinguishable 
right  of  British  subjects,  because  it  is  the  nat- 
ural right  of  mankind,  and  so  inseparable  from 
the  very  idea  of  property  as  not  to  be  divested 
even  by  conquest  itself,  without  totally  despoil- 
ing the  vanquished  and  reducing  them  to  a  state 
of  absolute  vassalage."  To  the  commons  the 
case  is  stated  fully  and  at  length.  The  colony 
had  since  1683,  through  its  representatives 
chosen  by  the  people,  "  enjoyed  the  right  of 
taxing  the  subject  for  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment." The  design  to  induce  the  parliament 
of  Great  Britain  "  to  impose  taxes  upon  the 


354  NEW  YORK. 

subjects  here  by  laws  to  be  passed  there,"  was 
an  "  innovation,"  of  which  the  assembly  sought 
to  state  its  "foresight  of  the  tragical  conse- 
quences to  the  crown,  the  mother  country,  the 
colony,  and  to  posterity." 

With  sturdy  self-confidence,  the  authors  of 
the  address  proceed  :  "  Had  the  freedom  from 
all  taxes  not  granted  by  ourselves  been  enjoyed 
as  a  privilege,  we  are  confident  the  wisdom  and 
justice  of  the  British  parliament  would  rather 
establish  than  destroy  it,  unless  by  our  abuse 
of  it,  the  forfeiture  was  justly  incurred ;  but 
his  Majesty's  colony  of  New  York  can  not  only 
defy  the  whole  world  to  impeach  their  fidelity, 
but  appeal  to  all  the  record  of  their  past  trans- 
actions, as  well  for  the  fullest  proof  of  their 
steady  affection  to  the  mother  country,  as  for 
their  strenuous  efforts  to  support  the  govern- 
ment, and  advance  the  general  interests  of  the 
whole  British  empire."  The  sacrifices  during 
the  French  war  were  fresh  enough,  even  in 
British  minds,  to  render  this  reference  both 
forcible  and  pathetic.  Not  as  a  favor,  but  as  a 
right.  New  York  demanded  "  exemption  from 
the  burthens  of  ungranted,  involuntary  taxes, 
as  the  grand  principle  of  every  free  state." 
For  "  without  such  a  right  vested  in  the  people 
themselves  there  can  be  no  liberty,  no  happi- 
ness, no  security."     "  And  if  conquered  vassals 


FIRST  STEP   TOWARDS    UNION.  355 

upon  the  principle  even  of  natural  justice  may 
claim  a  freedom  from  assessments  unbounded 
and  unassented  to,  without  which  they  would 
sustain  the  loss  of  everything,  and  life  itself 
become  intolerable,  with  how  much  propriety 
and  boldness  may  we  proceed  to  inform  the 
commons  of  Great  Britain,  who  to  their  distin- 
guished honor,  have  in  all  ages  asserted  the 
liberties  of  mankind,  that  the  people  of  this 
colony,  inspired  by  the  genius  of  their  mother 
country,  nobly  disdain  the  thought  of  claiming 
that  exemption  as  a  privilege." 

The  evil  policy  of  the  imposition  of  involun- 
tary taxes  is  urged  ;  and  while  the  authority  of 
parliament  is  recognized  "  to  model  the  trade 
of  the  whole  empire,"  duties  as  well  as  internal 
taxes  enforced  by  its  arbitrary  order  will  prove 
pernicious  to  Great  Britain  as  well  as  to  the 
colony.  The  address  protests  that  the  assem- 
bly cannot  be  guilty  of  a  "  desire  of  indepen- 
dence upon  the  supreme  power  of  parliament," 
but  in  behalf  of  its  constituents  "  cannot  avoid 
deprecating  the  loss  of  such  rights  as  they  have 
hitherto  enjoyed,  rights  established  in  the  first 
dawn  of  our  constitution,  founded  upon  the 
most  substantial  reasons,  confirmed  by  invari- 
able usage,  conducive  to  the  best  ends ;  never 
abused  to  bad  purposes ;  and  with  the  loss  of 
which  liberty,  property  and  all  the  benefits  of 


S56  NEW  YORK. 

life  tumble  into  insecurity  and  ruin :  rights  the 
deprivation  of  which  will  dispirit  the  people, 
abate  their  industry,  discourage  trade,  intro- 
duce discord,  poverty  and  slavery:  or  by  de- 
populating the  colonies,  turn  a  vast,  fertile, 
prosperous  region  into  a  dreary  wilderness,  im- 
poverish Great  Britain,  and  shake  the  power 
and  independency  of  the  most  opulent  and 
flourishing  empire  in  the  world."  With  this 
protest  against  taxation  were  included  appeals 
for  permission  to  maintain  paper  money  to 
meet  the  stress  caused  by  the  French  war.  So 
audacious  were  these  petitions  and  addresses 
regarded  that  no  member  of  parliament  could 
be  found  formally  to  present  them.  They  were 
left  to  have  such  effect  as  private  circulation 
would  command. 

The  careful  student  of  the  petitions  of  1763 
and  1764  does  not  need  to  seek  elsewhere  for 
the  clear  expression  of  the  principles  which  led 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  docu- 
ments are  not  only  akin  in  spirit,  but  rest  on 
the  same  solid  foundations.  New  York  pleads 
natural  justice  and  the  rights  of  men  against 
taxation  by  parliament  and  interference  with 
the  colonial  courts,  and  asserts  with  bold  cour- 
age, that  without  such  rights  there  "  can  be  no 
liberty,  no  happiness,"  and  "  life  itself  would 
be  intolerable."      Livingston  and  Bayard  and 


FIRST  STEP   TOWARDS   UNION.  357 

Phillipse  and  the  New  York  assembly  were  in 
the  forefront  of  the  struggle  for  the  liberties 
y/hich  king  and  parliament  were  foolishly  and 
criminally  crippling. 

The  attempt  to  impress  sailors  for  the  British 
navy  added  to  the  popular  indignation.  A 
press-gang  seized,  June,  1764,  four  fishermen 
in  the  harbor ;  but  in  return  the  captain's  barge 
was  captured,  and  although  the  men  were  set 
free,  the  boat  was  hauled  on  shore  and  burned, 
and  the  courts  could  not  discover  the  captors. 

Mr.  Bancroft  testifies  truly  that  the  "  spirit 
of  resistance  was  nowhere  so  strong  at  this 
moment  "as  in  New  York.  The  assembly 
responded  to  the  popular  feeling,  and  took  the 
first  formal  step  towards  colonial  union  against 
Great  Britain,  by  a  resolution,  October  18, 1764, 
clothing  a  committee  previously  appointed  with 
power  to  "  correspond  with  the  several  assem- 
blies or  committees  of  assemblies  on  this  conti- 
nent, on  the  subject-matter  of  the  act  commonly 
called  the  sugar  act ;  of  the  act  restraining  paper 
bills  of  credit  in  the  colonies  from  being  a  legal 
tender  ;  and  of  the  several  other  acts  of  parlia- 
ment lately  passed,  with  relation  to  the  trade  of 
the  northern  colonies ;  and  also  on  the  subject 
of  the  impending  dangers  which  threaten  the 
colonies  of  being  taxed  by  laws  to  be  passed  in 
Great  Britain."     This  committee,  established  to 


358  NEW  YORK. 

conduct  the  colony's  correspondence  with  its 
agent  in  London,  and  now  to  seek  united  ac- 
tion with  the  other  colonies,  consisted  of  John 
Cruger,  Philip  Livingston,  Leonard  Lispenard, 
William  Bayard,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston. 
They  were  the  recognized  leaders  in  the  assem- 
bly, and  were  all,  except  the  last  named,  mem- 
bers from  New  York  city ;  Livingston  sat  for 
Dutchess  county.  A  conference  between  the 
colonies  had  before  occurred,  in  furtherance  of 
British  policy.  This  is  the  beginning  of  official 
action  in  behalf  of  American  union  for  Amer- 
ican interests,  and  the  honor  of  it  belongs  to 
New  York. 


r\ 


